


Over the Hills and Far Away

by LadySongmaster



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: Angst, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/M, Found Family, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-26 11:41:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 27,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30105402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySongmaster/pseuds/LadySongmaster
Summary: Jessica Gray lost her parents in the battle for the Allspark in Mission City. Now, a little over a month later, living with her alcoholic uncle has become unbearable. Just when things seem darkest, a new friend enters Jess' life.
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

“Jess! Jessica, come back!”

Jessica Gray darted out the front door and ran down the street. Her uncle Richard’s pleas trailed her for a couple of houses, but she quickly left them behind. He’d come home drunk again. He hadn’t been dealing well with the death of his little sister, Jess’ mother, and found it easier to cope through an alcoholic haze.

“I’ll give it up,” he’d promised the last time she dared confront him about it. But by the time he came home after work, he had two or three drinks in him, and he was mean. The food was never hot enough or seasoned right. The way she cleaned the house or folded the clothes was all wrong. Nothing ever seemed to be good enough for her uncle. Jess could only think of one place to go. To Uncle Liam.

Liam McCallen wasn’t really her uncle, but he and her father had been best friends. Jess had spent many a weekend with Liam and her parents on camping trips or barbequing in Liam’s backyard. She’d even spent time in Liam’s auto shop watching her father and Liam rebuild cars. It was there that she now sought refuge.

The garage was closed when she arrived. It was after seven PM, but she knew from experience that Liam usually stayed till after nine most nights. She pounded on the door, trying in vain to hold back tears. Finally, she heard someone moving around on the other side of the door, and when it was open, she threw herself against the solid body, sobbing.

“What’s wrong, Jessie Baby?” Liam’s Scottish brogue rumbled in her hear. He drew her into the garage, locking the door behind them.

“Richard . . . he . . . I don’t want to stay with him anymore.”

She felt Liam tense. He and Richard had never gotten along well.

“Come on, Jessie,” he said, leading her into his office.

He sat her in the swivel chair behind his desk and put his old, ratty cardigan sweater around her shoulders, then disappeared. Jess felt bad for barging in on him and crying, but she’d needed it. By the time Liam returned with a mug of cocoa, she’d stopped crying and sat huddled in his sweater.

“There now, Jessie. Drink that down and tell me what’s going on.”

Jess sipped the cocoa and sighed.

“Richard’s drinking,” she said. Her stomach clenched and she set the cocoa aside. “It wasn’t so bad at first, but he comes home drunk almost every night now.” Tears filled her eyes again. “He gets mean. He doesn’t hit me, but he yells, and I can’t do anything right.”

Liam cursed under his breath and ran a hand through his short, auburn hair. Jess felt worse. Liam never swore around her.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have come,” she said, getting up. “I’m sorry, Liam.”

“Sit yer cute little self back in that chair,” Liam said. “I’ll not have you go back there with Richard in a snit. He just might take it into his head to get violent.”

Jess sat, hunching into the sweater. Liam scrubbed his face with both hands and blew out a breath.

“You can stay here for a bit. I’ll call Richard in an hour or so and let him know where you are. For now, come with me. I’ve a surprise I want to show you. I was saving it ‘til it was all fixed up, but I think you need a lift now.”

He started back into the garage. Jess left the sweater on the chair and followed him. Back in the far corner of the garage sat a car. All Jess could tell at first was it was a beautiful deep blue color. As she got closer, she saw that the windows were all shattered with bits of glass still stuck in the frames. The paint was scratched and there was a sizable dent in the hood.

“What do you think?” Liam asked, his deep voice gentle.

“It needs a lot of work.”

Liam nodded, folding his arms across his chest. “That she does. But she’ll be yours when she’s fixed up.”

Jess’s eyes went wide, and she looked up at him. “Really?”

The skin around Liam’s green eyes crinkled as he smiled. “Really.”

Jess hurried forward and looked into the car. There was a hole where a radio had once been and the fabric of the seats was shredded. Glass littered almost every surface in the car.

“It really is a mess,” she said.

Liam leaned down next to her. “But she has potential.”

“He,” Jess said.

Liam blinked at her.

“If he’s going to be my car, then he’s a he.”

“Alright. He.” Liam grinned. “What will you name him, then?”

Jess nodded. “I’ll have to think about it. The name has to be perfect.”

Liam chuckled, a bass rumble that lifted Jess’s spirits considerably. “You’re welcome to come and watch while I work on him, if you like. It’ll be after hours mostly. Bring your homework.”

Jess nodded excitedly. Any excuse to be away from Richard was a good one. Liam led her back to the office.

“Have you eaten?” he asked. When Jess shook her head ‘no’ he said, “Let’s order out. Then I’ll take you home.”

Jess’s enthusiasm over her new car deflated a bit, but she nodded. They ordered Chinese and spent an hour talking over sweet and sour pork and chicken lo mein. Feeling safe and full of good food, Jess began to doze. She was only mildly surprised when Liam lifted her into his strong arms and carried her out to his old truck. She didn’t remember the ride home, nor how she wound up in her own bed, but she vaguely remembered Liam’s voice, raised in anger.

* * *

_Transmission in progress_

. . . I am Optimus Prime. And I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars. We are here. We are waiting.

_End transmission_

_Repeating_

With the Allspark gone, we cannot return life to our planet. But fate has yielded its reward. A new world to call home . . .


	2. Chapter 2

Maggie Madsen sat back and rubbed her temples. She was used to staring at a computer screen for long hours, but it still took its toll. Next to her, Glen Whitmann was still busily trying to decode the latest message that had come in. His head bobbed in time to whatever song was playing on his iPod as his fingers flew over the keyboard.

They’d received three messages in the past month. Three messages from three Autobots, all on their way to Earth. Maggie didn’t know whether to be ecstatic or terrified. Soon there would be more of the huge transforming robots hiding out on her small little blue-green planet. What if more of the bad robots showed up?

“Maggie, I have detected a consistent drop in performance over the last hour. Your heartbeat is sluggish and your respirations are deep and explosive.”

Maggie turned to look up Ratchet, the Autobot medic. She gave him a wan smile.

“I’m tired,” she said.

Ratchet’s optics blinked at her. “Then you should go repose.”

“Sleep,” she corrected. “I should go sleep.”

“Sleep. Yes. Get six to eight hours and call me in the morning.”

Maggie laughed. Even after a month on Earth, the Autobots didn’t know everything about the language they used to communicate with. Especially Ratchet. He seemed to be more set in his ways than say Bumblebee, or even Ironhide. Sayings that were cliché or even corny seemed to be standard for the huge robot medic.

Maggie tapped Glen and mimed that she was going to lie down. Glen nodded and went back to decoding. Maggie grinned. He was living a life he’d only played in video games. Super secret agent working with aliens and alien technology. He was in heaven.

Maggie left the huge control room that had been created by the Autobots. There were smaller workstations for herself and Glenn, but everything else was on the massive Autobot scale. She got a neck ache just thinking about looking up to talk to them. There was a smaller room off to one side with beds, a TV, refrigerator, coffee machine, and other amenities that made living with the huge robots for days at a time bearable.

SecDef Keller had insisted that, in return for doing the best he could to keep the Autobots existence a secret—no small feat seeing as they and the Decepticons had destroyed a good chunk of Mission City—they allow certain humans to work with them as they tried to call together the Autobots scattered across the stars.

Maggie kicked her shoes off and let her hair down from the ponytail she’d pulled it back into. With a sigh, she lay down on the bed and closed her eyes.

* * *

“I’ve got it!” Glen yelled, popping his earbuds out.

Ironhide, Ratchet, and Optimus Prime all gathered around his small work area as Glen began to read the message.

“Good to know that others survived. I’m on my way. Give my regards to Optimus. Prowl.”

A smile lifted Optimus Prime’s metallic lips. “Prowl. A good friend and fine warrior.”

“That makes four,” Ironhide said. “Hound, Cliffjumper, Mirage, and now Prowl.”

“I hope they arrive soon,” Ratchet said. “We got Hound’s message almost an Earth month ago.”

“We can’t expect that they’ll arrive too soon,” Optimus said. “It could take a while for them to travel the distances between wherever they are and Earth.”

“One can always hope,” Ironhide muttered.

Optimus clapped a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Of course we’ll hope.”

Glen sighed and rolled his shoulders. “Well, I guess that means I can go home for a bit. You guys just let me know when you receive another message. I’ll be right back out here.”

“Thank you, Glen,” Optimus said. “Let Ironhide take you home.”

Ironhide transformed to his vehicle form and revved his engine. “Ready when you are.”

The two remaining Autobots watched them leave.

“Think any of our forces will arrive before the Decepticons cause more trouble?” Ratchet asked his leader.

“I hope so,” Optimus said. “I’m also hoping that with Megatron gone, the Decepticons will leave this planet alone.”

“That’s one wish I don’t think you’ll get. Starscream and Barricade were both unaccounted for at the end of our last battle.”

“I know. Let’s hope they don’t have any reserve forces to call upon.”

Optimus Prime left Ratchet and walked back to the Hall of Remembrance where they’d placed Jazz’s body. Ratchet had been able to repair his body, but Jazz’s spark was gone.

“I miss you, old friend,” the Autobot leader said.


	3. Chapter 3

Jess didn’t bother to go home after school the next day. Though it was only three o’clock, she went to Liam’s garage.

 _Let Richard fend for himself tonight_ , she thought.

Liam was busy when Jess arrived, and he gestured her back to the office. She made her way past the mechanics, waving as they called out to her. She settled herself behind Liam’s desk and pulled out her mp3 player along with her homework. With the band Nightwish filling her ears, she worked her way through algebra and was starting into English before Liam came to see her. He had to knock on the desk to get her attention.

Jess pulled her earbuds out and looked up.

“This is Chris,” Liam said, gesturing to a young man behind him. “I have to finish up with a truck I’m working on, but Chris’ll show you what we’re doing with your car.”

Jess nodded and shoved her homework away. “That’d be cool. My brain’s fried.”

Chris grinned at her and led the way back to the corner of the garage where her car sat. Jess studied him as he led the way. He had longish sandy-blond hair and the lanky build of a teen not quite grown into his body yet. She’d noticed that he was almost as tall as Liam.

“It’s a Toyota Corolla,” Chris said, bringing Jess’s attention back. “The car. The color is Indigo Ink. I think it’s a great color.”

“Me too,” Jess said.

All the doors were open on the car and the front two seats had been removed.

“We’re working on getting all the glass out right now,” Chris said. “Then we’ll get the seats recovered and possibly replace the dashboard, though it’s not too badly damaged.”

“Won’t this cost a lot?” she asked. “I can’t contribute much, but I don’t want Liam paying for all of this himself.”

Chris shrugged. “Liam’s got a few favors to call in. I don’t think it’ll be as expensive as you think.”

Jess walked around the car, her fingers trailing along the body. “Maybe so, but I can still offer to help.”

They talked a little longer, Chris outlining the process of fixing up the car. Jess was still slightly appalled that Liam was going through so much to fix up the vehicle for her. She wondered if it wouldn’t be cheaper to just get a used one.

“So,” Liam said, coming up behind them. “Did Chris fill you in on all the details?” He tossed a Twinki at Chris and another one at Jess, then bit into one of his own. 

Jess caught the treat and grinned. “Yeah. And it sounds like it’s going to cost a fortune.”

Liam shook his head. “We can do most of the work ourselves, and the body’s in pretty good shape. There are a few things I’ll need to completely replace, but I think we can keep the cost low.”

Jess threw her arms around Liam’s solid middle and squeezed. “You’re the best! Let me know if I can help with anything. I have a little money saved up, so . . .”

“This is my gift to you, Jessie Baby,” Liam said. “No need to go paying for your own present.”

“Isn’t he the best?” Jess asked Chris, one arm still around Liam.

“Yup. He’s definitely the best boss around.”

Liam grinned. “Just eat your Twinki, brownnoser.”

Jess headed back to Liam’s office to finish up her homework while Liam and Chris worked on her car. She finished biology, humanities, and art, then sat idly sketching as ‘Walking in the Air’ played on her mp3 player.

“Time to go home, Jessie,” Liam said, an hour later. “Come on. I’ll give you a lift.”

Jess sighed and started stuffing things in her backpack. “Are you sure I can’t come stay with you?”

He grinned and tugged on her blonde ponytail. “You wouldn’t really want to stay with me, Jessie. I’m a single guy, living alone. My place is a mess.”

“That’s a lame excuse, Uncle Liam. L-A-M-E. Covered in lame sauce. I’m living with Richard, remember? Single man, living alone. The only reason his place isn’t a mess is because I’m there to clean up.”

“All the more reason for you stay with Richard. I can’t have you cleaning my place and finding all the things I want to stay hidden. Like that body in the closet.”

Jess giggled. “Riiiight. Like you’ve ever knocked someone off.”

“Ah, caught in my lie. Come on, Jessie girl. Let’s get you home.”

Jess headed out to Liam’s truck, shaking her head and smiling as he switched off the garage lights and locked up.

* * *

The Corolla waited until all signs of the small beings were gone. He accessed his budding processor.

Voice recognition on.

_"This is my gift to you, Jessie Baby. No need to go paying for your own present."_

Voice identified: Liam

Classification: mechanic

Threat level: low

_"It's a Toyota Corolla. The car. The color is Indigo Ink. I think it's a great color."_

Voice identified: Chris

Classification: mechanic

Threat level: low

_"You're the best! Let me know if I can help with anything. I have a little money saved up, so . . ."_

Voice identified: Jessie

Classification: ?

Threat level: none

The Corolla tried to bring up images of the ones the voices belonged to and found that it had no access to imaging systems. It made a sound—like grinding gears—of frustration. Liam and Chris were repairing him. Soon he’d have access to all systems. Then he could protect Jessie.


	4. Chapter 4

Two hundred and fifty miles above the surface of the Earth, the space shuttle made final preparations for docking with the International Space Station.

“ISS, this is Commander Willard, of shuttle _Discovery_.”

“We read you Commander Willard. This is Natasha Holt, chief science officer. Welcome to the International Space Station.”

Commander Willard grinned at his co-pilot, Erica Lance. “We’re not there yet, ISS.” He switched to a different channel. “Control, this is _Discovery_. We’re ready to make final docking with ISS.”

“Understood, _Discovery_. Adjust attitude and commence docking.”

“Confirmed, Control. Adjusting attitude.”

A red light started blinking on the control board.

“ _Discovery_ ,” Natasha’s voice came over the com. “We have an unidentified, incoming object. Abort docking! The object is on collision course with _Discovery_!”

Commander Willard didn’t question. He flipped switches rapidly, changing _Discovery’s_ trajectory.

“ISS. _Discovery_. This is Control. What’s going on?”

“ISS states there’s an unidentified object on collision course with _Discovery_ ,” Willard said.

“I see it,” Erica said. “Off the port side. It’s—good Lord in heaven.”

“What? _Discovery_! ISS! What’s going on?!”

“It looks like a huge metal sphere,” Natasha’s shaky voice said over the comm.

Commander Willard blocked out the conversation as he tried to maneuver the shuttle out of the way of the sphere. The thing was changing attitude with them, staying on collision course.

Next to him, Erica began to pray. Willard spared her a glance. Her face was white as she watched the sphere grow in the port side window. He reached out and grabbed her hand.

All transmission from _Discovery_ ended abruptly. Several seconds later a burst of static filled Command’s channels. After it stopped, silence reigned.

* * *

Something was tapping on his window. Sam Witwicky rolled over in his sleep and muttered unintelligibly.

The tapping came again.

“Jus’ ‘nother five minutes, mom,” Sam sighed, snuggling into his blankets.

“Sam.”

The voice had Sam leaping out of bed and racing for the window. Bright blue optics set in a huge metallic face stared at him from the other side of the glass. Sam pushed open the window, leaned out, and looked around.

“Bumblebee, it’s the middle of the night.”

Something about the way the Autobot was holding himself grabbed Sam’s attention. “Did something happen?”

“The space shuttle’s been destroyed,” Bumblebee said, keeping his voice down. “NASA isn’t releasing a lot of information right now, but I think we ought to go see Optimus and the others.”

“Now?” Sam asked, wiping sleep from his eyes.

Bumblebee’s huge metal face managed to convey guilt. “No. Not now. I just wanted to tell you. Something about this situation doesn’t feel right. We know some of the Decepticons were still functional at the end of our battle but . . .”

“But you haven’t been able to find them,” Sam finished. “Better to be safe than sorry. We’ll go see the others tomorrow.” He looked back at his clock. It was two AM. “Just let me get another few hours of sleep. We’ll be out of here by eight. Good thing tomorrow’s Saturday.”

Bumblebee nodded. “Good night, Sam.”

“Night, ‘Bee.”

Sam watched as the yellow Autobot stepped back to his place on the side of the house and transformed to his Camaro form. Then he closed the window and went back to his bed. He dropped down and flung an arm over his eyes. Sam knew that other Autobots had answered Optimus’s message and were coming to Earth. It made sense that other Decepticons would be coming as well, though he wished they’d just stay away.

_With the Allspark gone, there can’t be anything here that the Decepticons want,_ Sam thought.

He sighed in frustration and rolled over, falling into a sleep trouble by dreams of war between a race of huge robots.

* * *

Jess cried out as a hand clamped around her arm and dragged her from her bed. She landed hard on the floor and the hand around her arm released her. Bright light flooded the room, blinding her. She blinked, trying to clear her vision.

“Where’s m’dinner, girl?” her uncle’s harsh voice rasped.

Jess looked at Richard. She could tell right away that he had been drinking. He was swaying on his feet and his eyes were red-rimmed. Her eyes darted to the digital clock next to her bed. It was three in the morning. She turned back to her uncle.

“I’m sorry, Richard. When you didn’t—”

The slap to her cheek stopped her words. She cried out and shrank back against the side of her bed.

“It’s UNCLE Richard,” he roared. “Show me some respect, girl!”

Jess bit her lip to keep from crying and blinked against the tears blurring her vision. A sob escaped her as his hand clamped around her arm again and he hauled her to her feet.

“Get down to the kitchen and get my dinner ready,” he snarled, his face close to hers.

Jess gagged on the smell of alcohol. Her uncle shoved her out of her room and down the hall. She stumbled and nearly pitched down the stairs. She caught herself on the banister, then ran down and into the kitchen. Richard followed and stood in the doorway watching her with his bloodshot eyes. Jess was shaking so badly, she nearly dropped the hot pan of food. Richard snarled at her and smacked the side of her head as he took the pan and carried it into the living room.

Jess crumpled to the floor and sobbed. She stayed there until she felt she had control of herself, then cleaned up and timidly looked into the living room. Richard was asleep on the couch, the untouched food cold in the pan. She hurried back up to her room and locked the door. She huddled in her bed for a long time, jumping at every sound and praying her uncle would stay asleep. Sometime later, she drifted off, only to wake a couple of hours later. She dressed and slipped out of the house, heading for Liam’s garage. It was too early for him to be there, but she knew where he kept a spare key.

She let herself into the garage, leaving the lights off. Quickly she made her way back to where her car stood in its corner. She climbed into the back seat and lay down, curling into a ball, and cried herself to sleep. Liam found her there when he came in to open the garage for business. He sent Chris out to McDonald’s to pick up some breakfast and gently woke Jess. Once she’d told him the story, he agreed to let her stay with him over the weekend. Jess spent the day with Chris working on her car. They talked about how the repairs were going, about school, about the weather. Anything except the bruises on Jess’s face.

Liam occasionally joined them between customers and ordered out for lunch. He closed the garage early, since it was Saturday, and took both Chris and Jess to an early dinner. After dropping Chris of at home, Liam took Jess back to his house and gave her the guest room.

“You lied, Uncle Liam,” Jess said, her tone teasing.

He blinked at her. “Oh?”

“You said your house was a mess. It’s cleaner than Richard’s.”

Liam chuckled. “What can I say, Jessie Baby? I’m a neat freak.”

“So—can I stay?”

“Sorry, propriety forbids me from letting you stay with me for an extended period. But I’ll go by Richard’s tomorrow and have a talk with him.” Liam’s face went hard. “If he ever hits you again, you let me know. We’ll work something out, ‘kay?”

Jess nodded, though she was disappointed. Why wouldn’t he just take her in?

* * *

The Corolla was furious. It had listened all day as Jessie and Chris had talked, but one thing kept coming to its memory.

Richard had hit her.

_Richard hit my Jessie._

Richard was going to pay.


	5. Chapter 5

Bumblebee, carrying Sam and Mikaela, pulled into the Autobot base at ten o’clock Saturday morning. He stopped and let his passengers out before transforming to his robot form and lifting the two humans to sit on his shoulders.

They met Ratchet coming from another part of the base. The medic’s blue optics scanned over them and Sam was sure he heard the Autobot sniffing. It still killed him that a robot had a sense of smell.

“Sam, Mikaela, you are both are well,” Ratchet said.

Sam nodded. “Yeah.”

Mikaela smiled at the medic. “How about you, Ratchet? Getting bored out here in the boonies?”

Ratchet cocked a metallic eyeridge at her. “Boonies?”

“The ‘way out there’,” Sam said helpfully. “You know, the place where, if the Decepticons were to attack again, you wouldn’t take out half the city.”

“Hey,” Bumblebee said, shrugging and making his passengers squeak and grab onto his head to stay aboard. “We didn’t intentionally destroy anything.”

“Calm down ‘Bee,” Sam said. “I was joking. It was a bad joke, granted, but I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Other than the fact that there really is nothing out here,” Mikaela said, throwing her hair over her shoulder.

They all jumped at the sound of Ironhide’s horn as he pulled up behind them. Glenn climbed out of the cab and Ironhide resumed his robotic form.

“D’you mind?” the weapons specialist growled. “This isn’t a parkin’ lot y’know. Optimus has news, so let’s get movin’.”

“Touchy,” Bumblebee groused.

“Yo, Sam! Mikaela!” Glenn greeted.

The two waved from the vantage point on Bumblebee’s shoulders.

Quickly they gathered in the control room. There were Autobot-sized workstations along with the two human-sized stations where Glenn and Maggie worked. Optimus stood in front of a huge screen, his back to them. Maggie sat at her station and looked up as they walked in. Her face was drawn.

“Greetings, friends,” Optimus Prime said, his deep voice grave, as he turned to face them. His deep blue optics caught and held them each in turn before he spoke again.

“Last night, the space shuttle _Discovery_ was destroyed as it tried to dock with the International Space Station. Even with Secretary Keller’s security clearances we know little of what happened. The co-pilot of the shuttle claimed to have seen a metallic sphere moments before the shuttle exploded. Command in Cape Canaveral picked up the following transmission, seconds after the shuttle’s destruction.”

The Autobot leader turned and pressed a button on the control panel. A piercing static shriek filled the air, causing the humans to wince and cover their ears.

“Sounds like Cybertronian,” Ironhide said when the noise stopped. “But garbled.”

“I’m pretty sure it was a Decepticon transmission,” Maggie said. “But it’s encrypted past anything I’ve seen so far. They must know that we were able to intercept their transmission and decode it when they first attacked.”

“The space station—” Sam started.

“Is fine,” Optimus said. “Control can’t raise them on the com, but the electronic information coming from the station has not stopped.” The Autobot leader paused. “I believe that at least one Decepticon has landed on Earth.”

“Not to mention Barricade, who’s still running free,” Ironhide said. “And Starscream’s also unaccounted for. And Scorponok.”

“Sam.”

Sam looked up into Optimus Prime’s fathomless blue optics.

“I think you and Bumblebee will need to take another trip to Mission City.”

Sam suppressed a groan.

“Why?” Mikaela asked.

Ratchet answered. “We’ve had two new spark signatures pop up on our radar. We need to get a hold of them before they cause any trouble.”

Sam remembered trying to capture the Mountain Dew spitting vending machine. Poor Bumblebee had suffered several dents and scratches to his paint job before that feisty new sparkling had been captured. He didn’t relish putting ‘Bee into that situation again, especially since ‘Bee was trying to keep a low profile. As was Sam.

“That’s everything for now,” Optimus said.

“We’ll keep you all posted on the progress with the new transmission,” Maggie said.

“Sam. Bumblebee,” Optimus said. “I would speak with you both.”

“A girl knows when she’s been dismissed,” Mikaela said. She hopped into Ratchet’s proffered hand and waved at Sam and Bumblebee as they followed Optimus back into the memorial room.

Optimus seemed to sag as Sam and his protector watched.

“I know I don’t have to tell you this, but I need to see the new sparks.”

“Optimus—” Bumblebee started.

“I know in my spark that Jazz is out there,” the Autobot leader interrupted. “Megatron destroyed his body, but his spark is strong. Too strong to have been snuffed out so easily.”

“We’ll find them,” Sam promised, moved by the leader’s grief. “We’ll radio if we need any help.”

“Ironhide will be on alert for any news from you,” Optimus said. “Let him know if you run into any trouble.”

Sam lifted his hand in the Boy Scout salute. “On my honor.”

Bumblebee imitated him.

“Right. Sam, I know you have school on Monday, but can you leave tonight? We can’t let those sparks run loose now that we know about them.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Sam said.

* * *

High over the desert of Qatar, two F-22 Raptors flew slowly, searching.

“This is so slaggin’ boring,” Skywarp whined. “Can’t that overgrown bug get himself back to base?”

“If he could have, he would have,” Thundercracker snarled.

He was sick to death of his companion and wished that Starscream had assigned someone, anyone, else to go with Skywarp.

“Send out the signal again,” Skywarp said.

Thundercracker bit his tongue—figuratively speaking—and aimed his radar at the sand. The short burst of static would register only as a momentary blip on human listening equipment, but it was enough to alert any Decepticons in the area.

The two F-22’s made a wide circle of the area. There was nothing to see but sand and heat waves.

“I say we go back,” Skywarp said. “We’ll never find him in this waste—”

“Wait,” Thundercraker said.

Miraculously, Skywarp shut up. There was a faint tremor under the sand. Almost too small to notice.

Thundercraker sent out another, slighter longer, burst.

Sand erupted in a huge fountain, nearly touching the bellies of the two jets. When the plume cleared, a giant metal scorpion stood looking up at them, snapping its enormous pincers irritably.

Had Thundercracker’s face been visible, his grin of triumph would have been seen by both his companions.

“Thundercracker to Starscream,” the F-22 sent on a tight beam transmission. “We’ve found Scorponok.”


	6. Chapter 6

Sunday morning, Chris showed up at Liam’s house. Jess had been learning the finer points of scrambling eggs when the knock came.  
“I’ll get it,” Jess said.  
Liam grabbed her around the waist, swung her around, and set her back down in front of the stove.  
“My house. I’ll get it,” he said.  
Jess stared in trepidation at the mess of eggs and veggies in the pan. “But I’ll burn breakfast!”  
Liam was already gone. She poked at the eggs with a spatula and silently begged whoever was at the door to go away. Liam returned a moment later with a blushing Chris in tow.   
“See, you did fine,” Liam said with a grin. He took the spatula from Jess, deftly stirred the eggs a couple more times, added some cheese, and dumped the concoction out onto three plates. “Have you eaten?” he asked Chris over his shoulder.  
“Yeah, but I’m always hungry,” the young man said, still blushing and not meeting Jess’s eyes.  
Liam nodded at the table. “Have a seat, you two. This is ready.”  
He set the plates on the table as Jess pulled orange juice from the fridge and filled three glasses. Chris sat at the table with his hands in his lap. Jess set a glass of juice in front of him, trying to catch his eyes, then gave up and set Liam’s glass in front of him. She wondered why Chris seemed so tense. She seated herself and sipped her drink.  
Jess hummed in pleasure. “Mmm, OJ. Don’t get it much around Richard’s place.”  
Liam grunted and gestured to the plates. “It’s gonna get cold, kids. Eat up.”  
They ate in relative silence, with the tinkle of flatware and sighs of pleasure from Jess as background noise.  
“These are just like Dad’s eggs,” she said as she finished the last bite. “They’re wonderful.”  
“Who do you think taught your dad to cook, hmm?” Liam said. He grinned and ruffled her hair.  
Jess gave him a wistful smile. “I’ll start cleaning up.”  
She picked up her plate and Liam’s, but Chris shook his head as she reached for his. “I’ll help.”  
Jess smiled. “’Kay.”  
They cleared the table and as Jess washed, Chris dried the dishes and stacked them on the counter. Liam slipped into the living room and flipped on the TV. The news was a soft background noise as Jess and Chris worked.  
“So, do you have any plans for the day?” Chris asked.  
Jess tried to act nonchalant, but little butterflies of excitement tickled her insides. “Not really. I was going to hang around here, maybe nap a little.”  
“W-would you . . . that is . . . I . . . uh . . .”  
Jess looked up at Chris. His cheeks were crimson.  
“Yes?” she asked sweetly.  
Chris took a deep breath. “Well, a stray cat we found had babies a few weeks ago, and they’re really cute, and we have to give them away—there were ten in the litter—and I was wondering if you’d like to come see them and maybe choose one for yourself.”  
Jess giggled at the sudden flood of words. “You want me to come to your house and see the kittens?” she paraphrased.  
Chris nodded, his eyes full of hope.  
She thrust the soapy scrubber at him. “You finish up the dishes and I'll go ask Liam.”  
Chris let out a sigh of relief and grinned. “Right. I’ll be here.”  
Jess tried to contain her excitement as she walked to the living room. She loved kittens. And the thought of going to Chris’ house made her feel a little giddy. She’d never had a boyfriend. Not that Chris asking her to see kittens with him made then a couple, but perhaps it could develop that way. The idea made her stomach flutter happily.  
All happiness left her though, as she stepped into the living room and heard the news broadcast.  
“Three different reports have been called into the station at this time,” the anchorwoman was saying. “All are similar if not identical. A meteor crashed just off the Oregon coast, another in the Nevada desert, and a third near St. George, Utah early this morning. A large, metallic figure was then seen leaving the site of each crash. The following footage was delivered to the station just a few minutes after one of the incidents.”  
The scene changed to what was obviously footage from someone’s phone. The camera work was shaky as the lens followed the descent of a bright object in the sky. Then the picture jumped and bounced as the camera holder ran toward the impact site. The movement stopped suddenly, and the picture zoomed in on the crater. Something large was silhouetted against the fire that the heat of entering the atmosphere had created before the thing crashed. It looked vaguely humanoid in shape, with a head, arms, torso, and legs, but it was enormous. The picture froze and shrank back behind the anchorwoman’s shoulder.  
“There have been no other sightings at this time, though residents of surrounding towns have been cautioned . . .”  
The woman’s voice faded away as Jess started to hyperventilate. A high-pitched buzzing filled her ears and seemed to fizz at the back of her skull. There were more of them. More of the creatures—the robots or whatever—that had killed her parents. Jess sagged against the wall as her vision dimmed. Strong arms lifted her and laid her on the couch. She curled onto her side.  
“Breathe, Jessie. You’re okay, baby girl.” Liam’s gentle voice was in her ears. She could feel his hands on her back, soothing her. “You’re safe, Jessie. I’m sorry you saw that. Just breathe slowly. You’re safe.”  
She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, letting the rhythm of Lian’s words soothe her. When she finally stopped shaking, she opened her eyes and saw Chris hovering anxiously behind Liam. She shifted her gaze back to Liam.  
“I-I’m okay,” she whispered. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Sorry I freaked.”  
“You’re sure?” Liam asked.  
Jess nodded and sat up, taking another deep breath. “Yeah. Yes, I’m sure.” Her eyes flicked back to Chris and she smiled at him. “Chris invited me to his place to see some kittens.” Her eyes went back to Liam. “Can I go?”  
“Yes, if you’re sure you’re alright,” Liam said, helping her to her feet.  
She nodded again and hugged Liam, snuggling into his embrace. “I’m fine.”

Liam patted her back, and after a moment, Jess stepped back.  
“Alright, then. You kids go and have some fun. Jessie, you’d probably better go back to Richard’s tonight. Tomorrow’s a school day.”  
Jess couldn’t hide her disappointment, and nodded glumly.  
“I’ll take her home,” Chris volunteered. “If that’s okay.”  
“That’s fine,” Liam said. “As long as you mind your P’s and Q’s, young man. Don’t forget who it is you work for, and what Jessie means to me.”  
Chris went bright red again and stammered, “No, sir. I mean, yes, sir”.  
Jess giggled.  
“Go have some fun with those little balls of fluff, Jessie. I’ll even keep one here for you, if you don’t think Richard will let you have one at his place."  
Jess’s face lit up. “Great!” She hugged Liam hard. “You’re the absolute, most best, ever.”  
“Have a good time, Jessie,” Liam said, hugging her back. “Get your mind off those big metal things.”  
Jess nodded. “’Kay. Catch you later.”  
Chris opened the door for her and Liam stood in the doorway watching them walk to Chris’s car.  
“It’s actually my mom’s,” Chris said, as Jess’s eyes roamed over the rusted spots and faded paint of the old Honda. His ears reddened. “I’m rebuilding a motorcycle, though, so I’ll have my own ride, just as soon as I get the parts I need.”  
“Take care of her,” Liam called.  
Chris and Jess waved to him as they got in the car and drove off.

* * *

Liam watched them ‘til they were out of sight. As he started to close his door, a police cruiser came around the corner and stopped in front of his house. Two uniformed officers got out and started toward him.  
“Dammit, Richard,” he muttered.

* * *

Sam watched the tracking device Ratchet had given him as Bumblebee drove. They’d reached Mission City late the previous night and Bumblebee had insisted that Sam get a few hours of sleep. After a quick breakfast from a drive through, they’d begun searching, starting from the site of the battle. Much of the area was still off limits as the last of the debris was cleared away. Reconstruction had started on some of the more vital buildings, but it would take a long time before this section of the city was really alive again.  
“Nothing here, ‘Bee,” Sam said. “Let’s spread out our search area a bit.”  
Bumblebee complied, his holographic driver in place so that Sam could concentrate on the tracking device.  
“Turn left here. Keep going. A little farther. Up here on the right, I think.”  
They stopped in front of a repair garage. It was closed. Sam groaned.  
“This is a great place for a new spark to hide,” Bumblebee said. “Whatever form the spark takes, it can probably fix itself here, if the need arises.”  
“Yeah, but we’ll have to come back.” Sam squinted to make out the business hours on a small sign. “They don’t open ‘til ten tomorrow.”  
“Let’s see if we can get a fix on the other spark,” Bumblebee said. “I’ve marked the route to this place in my memory banks.”  
Sam nodded. “Right. Let’s find that other spark.”

* * *

The Corolla shuddered as the being outside the garage left. Its growing awareness had sensed something familiar about the being.  
< . . . s _park. >_  
_Spark?_ the Corolla wondered.  
< _I know that spark. >_  
_Who are you?_  
< _I . . . I don't remember. >_


	7. Chapter 7

Jess and Chris spent the day together playing with the kittens. A tiny black kitten, with a spot of white between his ears, took to Jess so much that he wailed every time she put him down or paid attention to another kitten.

“You should keep him,” Chris said. “He really likes you.”

Jess gave a noncommittal grunt. She liked the silky feel of the kitten’s fur. And the way he curled up in her arms and fell asleep stole her heart. But she didn’t know if Richard would allow her to have a kitten, and she didn’t want to impose on Liam.

As the kittens began to curl up around their mother for sleep, Chris suggested going out to see his motorcycle. When Jess accepted, he led the way to the dilapidated shed behind his house where he was working. The shed was cluttered with tools and parts for the orange bike, and there was barely room for Chris to stand. Jess sat on a sturdy potting table while Chris explained the finer points of motorcycle reconstruction.

“I think it might have been damaged in that battle a month ago. I found it at a used bike dealership. They’d knocked the worst of the dings out of the body but couldn’t get it to run. They were going to haul it off for scrap metal when I begged them for it. With everything I’m learning from Liam, I’ll have it running in no time.”

Chris’s mother came out as the light of the day began to fade and invited Jess to stay for dinner. Jess gladly accepted. She didn’t want to go home to Richard.

She decided she needed to spend more time at Chris’s house. Not just because of him, but because his mother was a wonderful cook. Jess nearly wept at the spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce, garlic bread, and the Caesar salad. She ate slowly, savoring every bite. She offered to help clean up after dinner but was shooed into the family room with Chris and his two younger siblings for a rousing game of Egyptian Rat Killer. Jess’s hand was red and sore by the end of the game, but she hadn’t laughed so much in what seemed like years.

Finally, nine o’clock rolled around, and Jess couldn’t put off going home any longer.

“Thank you so much, Mrs. Weiler,” Jess said, hugging Chris’s mom.

“You’re welcome, dear. Come over any time. I’m glad to share my recipes.” She turned to give a stern look at her eldest child. “Chris, make sure you get her home safe, and obey the speed limit.”

“Alright, mom,” Chris said, exasperated.

He hurried Jess out of the house, his mother’s admonitions following them the whole way.

“Geez,” Chris groaned, once they were in the car. “Sorry about that, Jess. My mom’s a worry wart.”

“I think she’s sweet,” Jess said. “It must be nice to have someone to worry for you.”

Chris gave her an awkward look. “Yeah.”

Silence.

“I’m sorry about your parents, and all,” Chris muttered. “Don’t think me heartless, but in a way I’m glad.”

“What?” Jess gave him an incredulous stare.

“Well, you wouldn’t have moved here if your parents . . . well, you know . . . and I’d never have gotten to meet you.”

“Chris, this is my parents you’re talking about.”

Chris flushed red. “You’re right. Forget everything I said just. Except for the part that I’m glad I met you. I didn’t mean to be a jerk.”

Jess nodded, staring at her hands clenched tight in her lap. Chris sighed and started the car. He drove her home in silence, not speaking until they were stopped in front of her dark house.

“Thanks for coming over,” he said glumly.

“Yeah,” Jess said softly.

The silence between them was uncomfortable. She didn’t want to leave things like this. She was sure he hadn’t meant to sound heartless about her parents’ deaths.

“Are you—” she said.

“Will you—” Chris blurted at the same time.

They stopped and looked at each other, then laughed.

“You first,” Chris said.

“Are you going to be at school tomorrow?” Jess asked.

Chris nodded. “No reason not to be.”

“Okay. Now you.”

“Will you ask your uncle about the kitten?”

“Yes,” Jess said. “I’d love it if I could keep him. He’s so cute.”

“All righty then,” Chris said with a smile. “Can I, uh, pick you up? For school that is. Tomorrow morning?”

Jess nodded shyly. “Sure.” She opened the door and stepped out into the night. “See you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,” Chris agreed.

Jess stood on the sidewalk and watched Chris drive away. Then she turned to face the house. All the lights were off, indicating that Richard had left during the day and hadn’t been back since. Jess shivered and walked up the steps to the front porch. She pulled her key from her pocket and let herself in, quickly flipping on the living room lights to dispel the darkness. She closed and locked the door then checked the house. As she’d assumed, her uncle wasn’t home. She did, however, find a note on her bed.

_Jessica,_

_I’m sorry I hit you. I’ve been sober all day today, and I’m worried about you. Please don’t go out for long periods of time without calling me. I need to know that you’re safe._

_Thanks,  
Uncle Richard_

Jess touched the bruise on her face, then crumpled the note and tossed it in the wastebasket.

“One day without a drink isn’t sober,” she muttered.

* * *

Chris came for her early the next morning. She was still eating breakfast.

“Stay right there,” she said, leaving him just inside the door. She didn’t want Chris to see her uncle, should Richard decide to exit his room before noon. She gulped down her cereal, threw her dishes in the sink, and brushed her teeth. Then she grabbed her backpack and dashed out the door with Chris in tow.

At school, Jess was surprised—and a little chagrined—to find that Chris was in three of her classes. She hadn’t noticed before. They sat together through those classes and Jess was happy to find they had lunch together as well.

When the last bell rang, Jess gathered her books and headed out of the classroom. She didn’t expect to find Chris waiting for her.

"Isn’t American History on the other side of the school?" she asked suspiciously.

Chris grinned. “Yeah. I kinda snuck out early.”

Jess laughed as they walked toward the front of the building.

“Can I offer you a ride home?” Chris asked.

“That’s very kind of you. I accept.”

But Jess stopped short as they walked out into the sunlight. There, waiting for her, was Richard. A sick coldness crept into her stomach. She turned away hurriedly and tried to get Chris to move faster.

“Jess! Jessica!”

Jess stopped and closed her eyes, fighting back several unpleasant emotions. She turned to face her uncle.

“Jess. I was waiting there. Didn’t you see me? I thought I’d treat you to dinner tonight.”

Jess blinked. This couldn’t be her uncle. “I . . . uh . . .”

“My name’s Chris, sir,” Chris said suddenly, stepping in front of Jess and holding his hand out to her uncle. “I’m a friend of Jess’. I work at Liam’s garage.”

A shadow passed over Richard’s face, quickly gone. He took Chris’ hand and shook it heartily.

“Good to meet you, Chris. Been taking care of my Jessie?”

Jess was glad that Chris’s back was shielding her from her uncle’s view. She made a rude face as he called her Jessie.

“Well, sort of. I kept her company yesterday, and my mom invited her over for dinner. And we played with some kittens. There was one that was particularly attached to her by the end of the night, but she didn’t want to take the little tyke home without asking you.”

Jess peeked around Chris and saw the smile on her uncle’s face. Her jaw nearly hit the ground in shock.

“A kitten? I don’t see why not. I’m not much company I’m afraid. . .”

Jess snorted inelegantly.

“. . . so a kitten might do her some good. Tell you what, Jessie. How about we run to the pet store and get some things for your kitten. Then we’ll go do dinner, Chris can come if you like, and we’ll swing by his house on the way home to get your new friend.”

Chris looked over his shoulder at Jess, then back to Richard.

“I don’t think I’ll join you for dinner, though I appreciate the offer. You’re more than welcome to stop by later and pick up the kitten.”

Jess put a hand on Chris’ back. He smiled at her. “Can I pick you up for school again tomorrow?”

Jess nodded.

“I think that’s a grand idea,” Richard said. “It’s time Jessie had some friends outside . . . er, well, I guess you work at that garage too, don’t you? Oh well, at least you’re more Jessie’s age.”

Jess rolled her eyes and banged her head, gently, against Chris’ back. Why did everything with her uncle have to be such a trial? Taking a breath, she stepped out from behind her human shield.

“Thanks for picking me up this morning, Chris. See you tomorrow.”

She smiled at him, then walked past her uncle without a glance, heading for his car.

“See you tomorrow,” Chris called at her retreating back.

Jess nodded, but didn’t stop until she was in the front seat of Richard’s car. If her uncle was going to be civil, she’d try as well. Especially since he’d said she could have the kitten. That put him back on her good side. Somewhat.

Richard took her to a local pet store where she picked out a cat carrier, litter box, cat bed, and some toys. When Jess pulled out her cash to pay for it, Richard waved her away.

“Let me,” he said, handing his credit card over.

After that he took her to the local crab shack and told her to order whatever she wanted. Unsure of when her uncle’s good humor would disappear, Jess just ordered the shrimp linguini. Her uncle told the waiter to bring out two pounds of snow crab and a pound of shrimp as well.

“I know you like crab,” Richard said.

Jess was a little surprised. She could only remember one birthday a few years ago, where he’d joined Jess and her parents for dinner and she’d ordered crab, since it had been a special occasion.

When they got home, Jess called Chris, asking him to bring over the kitten. When he arrived, Richard stood in the doorway with arms folded as Jess and Chris fawned over the little black furball.

“What are you going to call him?” Chris asked.

“Quin,” Jess said.

* * *

“It’s no good ‘Bee,” Sam said. “We’ve been at this for hours.”

Bumblebee’s sandy-haired, blue-eyed human hologram turned to Sam and did a very believable impression of a sigh, considering he had no lungs. “I suppose you’re right. The second spark is very well hidden. Can you miss school again tomorrow, or shall we head back to your house?”

Sam stifled a yawn. “I think my parents would freak if I missed another day. And I want to see Mikaela. We can plan to come back Friday and stay through the weekend if we need to.”

“Sam,” Bumblebee’s hologram said. “You know I don’t run on gasoline. It’s not a problem to come up here every day if necessary.”

“It’s a damper on my social life, ‘Bee. Not that I have much of one. That aside, there’s my homework to consider. I want to find the new sparks as much as you guys, but I have other obligations as well.”

Bumblebee’s hologram frowned. “But Optimus . . .”

“I swear to you, Bumblebee, I won’t give up. We’ll keep looking until we find the sparks. But I have a lot to juggle. I’ll devote my whole weekend to this search, but I’ve gotta keep my parents happy too.”

“You’re right,” Bumblebee said. “Let’s come back tomorrow, after school, and stop in at the garage again.”

Sam nodded. “I wonder why it was closed today.”

* * *

“Autobots!” Frenzy screeched in Cybertronian. :”AutobotsAutobotsAutobots!”

“Keep it down,” Skywarp growled. He turned to Scorponok and Thundercracker. “I think hacking the flesh bags’ computers has crosswired his circuits.”

Scorponok chuckled.

The tiny Decepticon clambered up Skywarp’s larger frame and shoved his heavily modified laptop into the other Decepticon’s optics.

“Autobots!” Frenzy shrieked.

Skywarp leapt to his feet, trying to bat the smaller Decepticon lose. Frenzy scuttled across the larger ‘con’s chest and arms, chattering almost too fast to understand.

“Tracking,tracing,likeStarscreamsaid.”

Barricade plucked his small partner off Skywarp just as the other Decepticon’s hand clanged against his own chestplate in an attempt to squash Frenzy.

“You hurt him and I’ll slag you,” the black Decepticon threatened.

“Then keep that freakbot away from me!” Skywarp yelled.

Frenzy made a rude noise from the relative safety of Barricade’s shoulder.

“You do such an amusing dance,” Scorponok said, snapping his pincers at Skywarp’s legs. “Perhaps you’ll dance for me as well.”

Skywarp leveled his canon at the scorpion-like Decepticon.

A red bolt of energy blasted past Skywarp’s head, blowing a hole in the wall behind him. Another bolt glanced off one of Scorponok’s claws.

“Enough!” Starscream snarled. “I leave you alone for a moment and what do you do? Start tearing each other apart. You’re all imbeciles.”

“Autobots,” Frenzy shrieked, showing his laptop to Starscream.

The self-appointed Decepticon leader smiled. “Good work, Frenzy. While they’ve been playing nice with the humans, we’ve been preparing for war. This time we’ll crush Optimus Prime, and those self-righteous Autobots!”


	8. Chapter 8

Jess didn’t make it to Liam’s garage all that week. Each morning, Chris was there to pick her up for school, and each afternoon, Richard was waiting to take her to dinner or a movie. As far as she could tell, her uncle hadn’t touched alcohol since the previous Saturday. It reassured her a little, but his attempts to buy her affection mostly irritated her.

Chris gave her almost daily updates on the status of her car. According to him, it was almost ready for her to drive.

“It’s weird,” he said on Wednesday. “I think there’s a short in one of the wires to the radio. It keeps playing music, even when I know I’ve turned it off. And it’ll be on a different station each time. Liam put the radio in another car to see if the problem continued, but it worked just fine.”

“Hey, I’m just happy to have a car,” Jess said. “It doesn’t have to have a radio too.”

Chris ran a hand through his sandy hair and groaned. “Aw, crap. When you come to pick up the car, act excited about the radio, okay? It’s supposed to be part of the surprise.”

Jess giggled. “I promise to be über-excited.”

Thursday, Chris reported no more strange goings on with the radio, but now the lights were acting up, and sometimes the car would be locked, and they couldn’t get it to unlock even with the key.

“Think I could steal you away for dinner at my place tonight?” Chris asked, during lunch. “We’re having spaghetti again and mom was hoping you’d be able to make it.”

“It’s up to Richard,” Jess said, resignedly. “If he shows up to pick me up again, we can ask him.”

Richard did show up and when asked, told Chris that he had plans already in place for Jess.

“Perhaps another time,” Richard had told Chris with polite disdain.

By Friday, Jess was ready to scream. If Richard didn’t let her do something outside of his watchful gaze, she’d go ballistic for sure.

“You should come by after school,” Chris said.

They were sitting out on the lawn in front of the school eating lunch.

Jess grimaced. “I’d love to. But Richard said he was going to take me out to a movie. Another one! I think we’ve seen everything that’s out in theaters now. I can’t believe him!” She flopped back on the grass, arms spread and eyes closed. “First, I can’t do anything right, and now, he’s trying to butter me up. I bet if he knew Liam was going to give me a car, he’d go blow up the garage just to spite Liam. I don’t even know why Richard hates him so much.”

“Have you ever thought of asking your uncle about it?” Chris asked.

Jess cracked one eye and glared up at him. “Riiiiight. Because I have a death wish, and it’s fun to poke my drunkard uncle.”

“Jess,” Chris said reprovingly.

She clenched her teeth and sat up. “I hate this! Richard’s my mother’s brother. He’s supposed to care for me at least a little, right? He’s supposed to have my well-being in mind. But I get the feeling that I’m just something he uses to hurt Liam. I don’t like it at all. I wish Liam had been chosen to be my guardian. Richard’s never really been a part of my life. I’m pretty sure he hated my dad too.” She sighed and slumped. “And I probably shouldn’t be telling you all this. I’m supposed to put on a brave face for the sake of keeping up appearances, right?”

She felt Chris scoot next to her and his arm went around her shoulders. Fighting the stinging tears behind her eyelids, Jess laid her head on his shoulder. He’d been so good to her since she met him.

“I’m glad you think enough of me to let me see your real feelings,” Chris said. “It means a lot to me.”

“You and Liam feel more real to me than a lot of other things in my life,” Jess whispered.

She opened her eyes and looked up. Chris’ face was inches from her own, his warm green eyes staring into hers. Jess’ breath caught in her throat and her heart leapt. If she lifted her face, just so, and if Chris lowered his mouth just a fraction more . . .

 _Oh my gosh, we're gonna kiss!_ Jess thought.

“Chris and Jessie, sittin’ in a tree!” a raucous voice sing-songed. “K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

The mood shattered and Jess looked around with flaming cheeks for the source of the taunting.

“Hold that thought,” Chris whispered in her ear. “I have to go commit a murder.”

* * *

Jess waited for almost an hour and a half after school for Richard to arrive. When the parking lot had emptied out, she decided she was on her own for getting home. She’d told Chris to head home after school, reassuring him that Richard would be along soon to pick her up. Chris had practically begged her to let him give her a lift. She’d look foolish now if she called him after sending him packing. With a sigh, she adjusted her backpack on her shoulders and started the walk home. The house was empty when Jess returned. Richard’s car was gone. There were no clues as to where he was.

“That’s it,” she growled.

She grabbed her mp3 player and her purse from her room, turned on the kitchen and porch lights, and locked the door as she left. With Nightwish blaring loudly in her ears, Jess walked the blocks to Liam’s garage. “Ever Dream” came on as she came within sight of the garage.

_Would you do it with me/Heal the scars and change the stars?_

Jess thought of Chris. Could he heal her scars and change her stars? That thought filled her with warmth.

She pulled the earbuds from her ears and stepped into the garage.

“Liam!” one of the other mechanics yelled, jerking his head in Jess’s direction.

Jess saw Liam in his office on the phone. He waved and Jess waved back then he returned to his conversation. Chris came trotting across the room, grinning.

“Ah, the prodigal comes to visit. How did you get away from Richard?” Chris asked, hugging her.

“He wasn’t home,” she said, leaning into him. She liked the feel of his arms around her.

Chris pulled back and gave her an irritated look. “So, you walked home and didn’t bother to call me.”

Jess blushed. “Look, when Richard didn’t show I felt like an idiot for sending you away. I didn’t want to humiliate myself more by asking you to come back and pick me up.”

Chris sighed and leaned down to pressed his forehead against hers. “You don’t have to be humiliated around me, Jessie. Please, just call me if it happens again.”

Jess felt a warm thrill go through her at the sound of the nickname.

Chris stood up and cocked an eyebrow at her. “What, no reprimand for the use of your Liam-exclusive nickname?”

“I-I don’t mind if you call me Jessie,” she said softly. She could feel her cheeks burning.

She was staring at her toes, so she didn’t see Chris move, but suddenly his lips were next to her ear.

“Jessie,” he whispered.

She shivered.

“Jessie!” Liam’s voice rang out.

Jess and Chris jumped as if caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar. Liam walked up and threw an arm around Chris’s neck and smiled—too brightly—at Jess.

_Uh oh_ , she thought.

“This scoundrel bothering you?” Liam asked.

Chris tried to shake Liam’s arm from around his neck.

“Not at all,” she said, wincing as Liam’s arm tightened. “He was just saying hello.”

“Looked kinda friendly to me.”

“So what if it was?” Jess challenged.

Liam chuckled and let go of Chris, who scowled and punched Liam’s shoulder.

“If you’re okay with it Jessie, then so am I,” Liam said. “I just want you to be happy.”

“We’re not getting married yet,” Chris muttered, rubbing his neck.

“Good,” Liam said, mussing the younger man’s hair. “She’s not out of high school, and neither are you. I expect you both to have at least a year or two of college under your belts before I get the invitation.”

“Uncle Liam!” Jess protested, her cheeks burning again.

Both men laughed.

Liam put his arm around her. “Come on, Jessie Baby, let’s show you your new car.”

Liam and Chris led her back to where the car waited. Liam produced a key, which dangled form a key chain, and placed it in Jess’s hand. The key chain was a silver wing that said, ‘miracles happen’.

“I love it,” Jess said.

Liam grinned. “The key chain was Chris’s idea. I’m glad you like it. Have you thought of a name for him yet?”

“Well, it’s nothing fancy, but Chris said the color was Indigo Ink, so I was thinking of calling him Indigo.”

“I think it fits,” Chris said.

“It’s great,” Liam assured her. “You should take your car for a test run.”

“You’re not coming?”

“I have to keep these monkeys in line,” he said, gesturing to the other mechanics. Several of them grinned and waved. “I’ll give Chris a thirty-minute break. He can go with you.”

“’Kay,” she said, blushing.

Jess hugged Liam fiercely, then practically skipped to the driver’s side and slid behind the wheel. The seats had been re-upholstered in a silvery grey fabric. The dash and steering wheel were in a matching grey. An angel shaped air freshener wafted vanilla scent throughout the car. Jess blinked back tears as Chris slid into the passenger’s seat.

“This is my first car,” she said, running her hands over the steering wheel.

Jess jumped at the knock to her window. She rolled it down and looked at Liam, who crouched next to the car.

“Something wrong with the starter?” he teased.

“No. I’m just getting acquainted.”

She pushed the key into the ignition, pressed down on the clutch, and turned the key. The engine purred to life. Jess’s heart fluttered.

 _My very own car,_ she thought.

“Chris, why don’t you pull that little package out of the glove box and hand it to Jessie,” Liam said.

Chris did as he was told, handing Jess a thin, brightly wrapped, object. Jess knew the shape instantly.

“Liam, you didn’t need to get me a present. This car is wonderful enough.”

“Go ahead and open it Jessie. I know you’ll like it.”

It was a CD, as she’d guessed. A Nightwish CD. Jess scanned through the tracks on the back, smiled, and put the CD into the player. She selected the track, adjusted the volume, and sat back, a smile on her face.

Nightwish's “Ever Dream” filled the car. Jess leaned out the window and kissed Liam’s cheek.

“You’re the best,” she said.

He brushed his knuckles across her cheek, then kissed her forehead. “You’re worth it, Jessie. Now go road test this baby.”

He walked to the garage door and opened it. Carefully, testing the clutch-to-gas ratio of her new car, Jess eased out of the garage. She killed the car, trying to get onto the street. Jess blushed furiously as she started the car again.

“It’s okay,” Chris said. “Just give it a bit more gas.”

“Give it more gas!” Liam yelled from the garage.

“Okay. More gas,” Jess laughed.

She revved the engine and shot forward onto the street, turning the wheel wildly to stay in her lane. Luckily there were no oncoming cars.

“Geez Louise!” Chris gasped, clutching the handle over his door. “No one told me you were deadly in these things. Are you sure you have your license?”

Jess just laughed. “I’d fish it out, but I got to keep my eyes on the road and hands on the wheel.”

Thirty minutes later, as Jess and Chris were pulling back onto the street where Liam’s garage was, Jess’s heart nearly stopped.

Three police cars were sitting outside, their lights flashing.

Jess slammed on the breaks, shoved the car into park, and ran.

“Liam!” she screamed. “Uncle Liam!”

An officer tried to stop her as she charged past his car, but she twisted out of his grasp and entered the garage. She startled the two cops inside the door and was past them before they could react.

“Liam! LIAM!”

Someone caught her around her waist and lifted her off her feet. She scratched at the hands that held her and kicked, felt her heels connect.

“Damn it!”

“Who the hell is she?”

“Jessie? Calm down, lass.”

“Liam!”

She kicked again and heard a man’s voice swear. Then she was slammed down on the hood of a car. She went limp as stars exploded in her vision.

“Son of a bitch!” Liam roared.

The hands that were holding her were suddenly gone. She turned and saw Liam punch the officer who’d grabbed her, laying the man out on the floor.

“Get him down!” another office yelled.

“You didn’t cuff him? Idiot!”

There was a scuffle and as Jess blinked the stars out of her eyes. Liam was wrestled off the officer by three other officers.

“Liam, I’m fine!” she yelled. “What’s going on?”

The officers had Liam down on the ground now and were cuffing his hands behind his back.

“Liam Quinn McCallen, you have the right to remain silent,” one officer said.

“What’s going on?! Someone talk to me!” Jess could feel hot tears coursing down her cheeks.

“Miss, what’s your name?” The officer from outside touched Jess’ arm to get her attention.

“Jess. Jessica. What are you doing to Uncle Liam?”

“Are you Jessica Gray?”

Jess looked at the officer. “Yes.”

“Your uncle, Richard Blake, is looking for you. He called us, indicating that Mr. McCallen might have kidnaped you.”

“That’s stupid!” Chris came striding up behind the officer. “Liam would never do a thing like that. He cares for Jess, more than her ‘uncle’ does.”

“And you are . . . ?” the officer said.

Chris stopped next to Jess and flushed. “I’m Chris Weiler. I work here.”

“Look, kids, Mr. McCallen has had a restraining order against him for over a month now. It specifically forbids him to have contact with Miss Gray.”

Jess shot a look at Liam. The other officers had hauled him to his feet now. He looked tired, defeated.

“I’m sorry, Jessie Baby,” he whispered.

The officer stepped in front of Jess, blocking Liam from view.

“Miss, you uncle is very worried. You should probably go home now.”

Jess turned to Chris, her gaze helpless. He moved closer and put his arm around her.

“How much is bail?” Chris asked.

The cop shrugged and started herding them out of the garage. “That’s for the judge to decide.”

Jess let Chris lead her back to her car. He tried to take the keys, but she wouldn’t let him.

“I’ll drive,” she said numbly.

Chris nodded and got in on the passenger side. Jess got in and watched as the police led Liam out and put him in the back of a cruiser. Jess watched as each car drove away. The fourth and final car cruised slowly past her and she glared at the officer, who stared blankly back.

With a violent twist of the key, Jess started the car and pealed out. Chris, wisely, said nothing.

* * *

The police car deactivated his hologram as soon as he thought it prudent. Had he been in robot mode, a smile would have curved his metallic lips.

_I've found you._

* * *

Jess dropped Chris off at home. She sat in the driveway at Richard’s house for a long time. She didn’t want to go in. She didn’t want to face the man who’d had her _real_ family arrested. She leaned her forehead against the steering wheel.

“Indigo, what am I going to do?”

The radio flicked to life.

“ . . . It’s easier to run/replacing this pain with something numb . . . ”

Jess’ head snapped up and she looked at the radio. Quickly, she reached out and pressed the power button. The radio went dark and silent.

“If Chris hadn’t told me about that, I’d be freaked out right now.”

She grabbed her purse and got out of the car. Slowly she made her way up to the house and unlocked the door. She took a deep breath and pushed the door open. It was dark inside.

 _Richard must have turned the lights off_ , she thought.

Jess closed the door and turned around.

Pain exploded in her head as Richard’s open palm connected with her cheek. Jess staggered and fell against the couch.

“Where have you been?” he snarled.

He didn’t give her time to answer before another blow knocked her to the floor.

“Answer me when I’m talking to you girl!” He dragged her to her feet by her hair.

Jess’ scream died half formed as his fist plowed into her face.

“You’ve been with him, haven’t you? Haven’t you!”

The scent of alcohol filled her nose and she gagged. He threw her against the wall, slapped her again. Jess slid to the floor, sobbing.

“ _I_. Am. Your. Uncle.” He spat each word. “ _I_. Am. Your. FAMILY!”

He was kneeling on the floor next to her now. His hands cupped her aching face gently.

“Hannah,” he crooned. “Hannah, I’m sorry. I got rough. But, I won’t let Daniel take you away from me again. He can’t have you, Hannah. I’ll be the one to protect you.”

 _He thinks I'm Mom_ , Jess thought, dazedly.

“I’m not her,” she whispered. She winced as fresh pain washed through her face.

“Shh, Hannah. It’s okay now.” He pulled her to her feet. “Go to your room, little sister. I’ll take care of Daniel. He won’t bother you again.”

Jess didn’t resist. If it meant getting her away from Richard, she’d do what he asked. She went quickly to her room and locked herself in. She cleaned blood from her face with a tee-shirt, then lay on her bed, sobbing into her pillow, praying Richard wouldn’t hear.

When she finally stopped crying, she got up and started packing. Just a small bag. A change of jeans. A few extra shirts. Some underwear and socks. She put Quinn, her kitten, into his carrier, dumped the books out of her backpack, and refilled it with cat food and toys. Her preparations complete, Jess turned off her light and lay down on her bed. Try as hard as she might, she couldn’t fall asleep.

Around midnight, Jess crept from her room and down the stairs. She found Richard passed out on the couch, a bottle of vodka in the crook of his arm and the TV blaring. With her heart in her throat, Jess ran back up to her uncle’s room. She knew he kept a cash box in his closet. At any given time he had two to five hundred dollars in it. Praying that luck would be with her, Jess pulled the box down. She didn’t know the combination, and if it was locked . . .

Luck was with her. The box wasn’t locked. Jess grabbed the cash and stuffed it into her pocket, then hurried back to her room and gathered her things. Her stomach roiling with nerves, Jess crept down the stairs. Richard hadn’t moved. She opened the door and was about to close it behind her when she remembered her purse. It had fallen off in Richard’s attack. She needed her license. Jess put Quinn’s carrier down and pushed the door open again.

Richard was standing by the couch, staring at her.

A harsh sob escaped her.

“Jessica?”

She looked down, spotted her purse near the wall and grabbed it. Then slammed the door.

Jess picked up Quinn’s carrier and ran to her car.

Her hands shook as she tried to get her key into the lock. She heard the house door open and let out a harsh sob.

The car lock clicked and the door swung open.

Jess tossed her things inside and rammed the key into the ignition as she hit the door lock.

“Jessie!”

Richard’s fist slammed into the passenger window. Jess screamed.

The car roared to life.

Jess threw it into reverse and screeched out of the driveway.

She pushed it into first, nearly stalled the engine, then roared away.

She was sobbing hard, nearly blinded by tears.

_Can’t go to Liam. Can’t go to Chris, Richard’ll find me. Have to get away._

Jess rounded a corner, saw bright headlights.

She screamed, jerked the wheel to one side.

Her head hit glass and darkness took her.

* * *

What do I do? What do I do? WhaddoIdo?

_ <Calm down, kid. Keep driving. She’s . . . asleep. I think that's the word. She’ll be fine. Nice miss by the way.>_

I couldn’t let that other . . . that thing. . .

_ <Vehicle?>_

I couldn’t let that vehicle hit me. What would that have done to Jessie? She’s a lot softer than I am.

_ <Indigo?>_

Yeah?

_ <You remind me of someone. I wish I could remember.>_


	9. Chapter 9

A tap on the glass woke Jess. She sat up and winced. Her head felt like little demons were dancing around with their cloven hooves. After blinking to clear her vision, Jess looked out the window. A police officer was looking in at her. Heart fluttering like a trapped bird, Jess rolled the window down a little. Was he going to take her back to Richard?

“He—” she cleared her throat. It was dry and hurt from screaming. “Hello, officer.”

“Morning, miss. Everything alright?”

She nodded. “Yeah. Fine.”

He frowned at her. “You sure? You look a little roughed up.”

Jess touched her face and winced at the pain.

“I took a tumble down some stairs yesterday,” she lied. “I was visiting a friend. She wanted me to stay over, but I have work today, so I had to come back last night. I guess I pulled over and fell asleep.”

“It’s ten thirty now,” the officer said, looking at his watch. “I think you’re going to be late.”

Jess closed her eyes, a pained look crossing her face. “My boss is gonna kill me. Thank you, officer. Really.”

He nodded. “No speedin’ now. Just ‘cause you’re late doesn’t mean you can break the law.”

Jess nodded. “Right. Thanks again.”

The man nodded once more and walked back to his car. She waited until he’d pulled back out onto the freeway before reaching for the key in the ignition. A pitiful mew from the seat next to her got her attention.

“Quin!”

She pulled the cat carrier into her lap and looked inside. The little black kitten was huddled in a corner. Jess’s eyes filled with tears.

“Poor baby.” She pulled the kitten from his carrier and cradled him to her chest. He purred like mad as she stroked his silky fur and let her tears fall. “I’m so sorry, baby. You must have been scared to death. I’m sorry. Mama’s sorry.”

A little rough tongue licked her cheek and Jess buried her face in his fur and inhaled his kitten scent.

“You know how to make a girl feel better,” Jess said when she was calmer.

Quin was still purring, asleep in her arms. After another moment of comforting herself with the kitten’s purr and silky fur, Jess put him back in his carrier. Quin settled down and went back to sleep. Jess put a few crunchy food bits in the carrier in case he got hungry.

She sat for a long time, staring out at the desolate landscape. The last thing she remembered from last night was headlights coming at her. Had she somehow avoided an accident and then driven herself out to the desert? She didn’t even know where she was. Which way was Mission City? Probably behind her, she decided. She should keep going forward, but her eyes fell on Quin’s sleeping form again.

“I can’t take you with me, kitty,” she whispered, choking up again. “I don’t know how long I’ll be on the run, and I’m going to have a hard enough time feeding myself and Indigo, much less you as well. I know you won’t be comfortable living in a car anyway. I won’t take you back to Richard, and Liam is in jail, so that leaves one other place.”

Wearily, Jess started the car, did a U-turn, and headed back toward the city. She put on Nightwish, but softly. Her head was still pounding from multiple assaults. She stopped at the first convenience store she came to and bought Aspirin, water, and some snacks. She checked Indigo’s gas gauge and was surprised to see it still at full. As she waited for the Aspirin to kick in, she munched some chips.

“You’re a good car, Indigo,” she said, patting the dashboard.

When the throb in her head quieted to a dull ache, she started the car again and made her way toward Chris’ house. She prayed that no one would be home. She wanted to drop Quin off and be away before anyone—especially Chris—could ask questions.

There were no cars in the driveway as she pulled up to the house. Jess left the motor running as she took Quin in his carrier, with the extra food and toys up to the door step. She set her kitty down, trying hard not to cry.

“I’ll come get you when I’m settled somewhere,” she whispered.

Quin looked at her with his big green eyes and mewed piteously. Jess’ heart broke.

“Don’t do that, baby. We’ll be together again, I promise. Now be a good little boy for Chris and his family.”

She ran back to Indigo, trying to shut out Quin’s cries. She climbed in the car and pulled away, tears spilling down her cheeks. “Bye Quin,” she whispered.

She drove to Liam’s garage next. It was open, his mechanics were hard at work. Jess hoped they might be able to raise bail for Liam. She didn’t know who else would get him out of jail. And with her gone, he wouldn’t be in danger of going back again. The mechanics assured her they were doing what they could, and Jess thanked them.

She took a shuddering breath and tightened her hands around the wheel as she drove away from the garage. This was it. She’d try to make a new life for herself away from Richard. All she had to do was lay low until she was eighteen—just a few months—and then no one could make her go back to him.

Flashing blue and red lights in her rearview, and a couple short blasts of a police siren, brought Jess back to the present. She looked at her speedometer. She was going the limit.

“Not again,” she sighed as she pulled over on the quiet neighborhood street. “Two cops in one day.”

The car, a black and white Dodge Charger with police stripes, stopped behind her, but the officer stayed in his vehicle. He looked as if he were busy at the lap top next to him.

“This sucks,” Jess muttered.

“Miss?”

Jess jumped and looked at her window. There was no one there. She looked in her rearview. The officer was still in his car. He’d spoken into his loudspeaker.

“Miss, please exit your car.”

Jess’s hands tightened around the steering wheel.

“No way,” she whispered. She felt her car thrum beneath her as if in response to her words.

The guy was in a uniform, and the car was clearly marked. He couldn’t be some bad guy trying to bluff her, could he? She’d heard about guys who pretended to be officers and robbed people. Or worse.

“Miss, please exit your vehicle,” the officer said again.

Jess made a decision. She put the car in gear and stomped on the gas. The officer had good reaction time. He was following her a second or two after she’d sped away, sirens blaring.

“We’ve got to get away, Indigo,” she said. “I won't go back to Richard!”

The Corolla seemed to have a life of its own as Jess raced through the streets of Mission City. She skidded around corners more sharply than she thought possible without rolling and wove through traffic with a skill she wasn’t sure she possessed. Through it all, the police car stayed right on her tail.

“We need to get to that desert road again,” she said, her eyes scanning for the turnoff onto the highway. “I’m hoping we have more gas than he does. If so, we might be able to get away. As long as he doesn’t call for back up.”

She saw the turn off, cut across three lanes of traffic, and sped down the onramp. As soon as she hit the freeway, she floored it, pushing her speed past 100. She let out a wild whoop.

“Remind me to thank Uncle Liam for such a wonderful car,” she yelled over the roar of the engine.

Something exploded in the road ahead of Jess. The wheel jerked from her hands as her car swerved to avoid it. The police car screeched to a halt behind her. Indigo halted as well, without her pressing the breaks.

Jess started out the window, disbelieving. A huge metal scorpion crouched in the road, snapping its pincers at her. A cold sweat broke out over Jess’s body.

“Oh my—”

She was slammed back against the seat as her car took off without her doing anything. Behind her, in the rearview mirror, the police car seemed to break apart and transform into a huge black and white robot. Jess turned back to the road ahead. The metallic scorpion was gone.

Suddenly they were airborne, tossed high as the scorpion exploded up from the sand beneath Indigo’s tires.

“Indigo!” Jess screamed and clutched at the steering wheel as they started to fall. They stopped suddenly with a metallic clang, a good ten or more feet off the ground.

“Brawn!” the cop’s voice said.

“I’ve got ‘em Prowl,” another voice acknowledged.

Jess looked out her window and found herself staring into a huge steel-blue optic.

“Can you transform?”

“No,” Jess whispered.

“. . . No . . .” Indigo said, by way of his radio.

Jess stared in terror at the radio.

“No help for it then,” the owner of the huge blue optic said.

They were lowered to the ground and Jess watched a smaller orange and grey robot join the black and white one. The scorpion had disappeared again.

“It’s my parents all over again,” Jess whispered, nearly hyperventilating. Her accusing eyes looked at the car stereo. “You’re one of them. Those monster robots.”

“ . . . No . . . Jessie . . .”

“Look out!” she screamed.

The scorpion burst through the sand again and grabbed the orange and grey robot, Brawn, by one leg and was swinging the hapless robot around and slamming him into the ground. Another police car, this one completely black, showed up. Jess had only an instant’s relief before the black car transformed and the two police cars-turned-robots were grappling together.

Jess held the steering wheel in a white knuckled grip.

“I’ve got to get out of here,” she cried, her voice tinged with hysteria. “I don’t want to die!”

Indigo’s engine revved and he jolted forward, slamming Jess back in her seat. The scorpion, distracted by their sudden movement, tossed Brawn at the black and white police car, then dove beneath the sand.

Jess crossed her arms over her chest and clenched her eyes shut. She screamed as Indigo swerved wildly, but didn’t dare open her eyes. She heard and felt Indigo’s tires hit pavement and opened her eyes.

“No! Indigo, no! Turn around. Don’t go back toward the city! What if that thing follows us?”

Jess was thrown forward as Indigo slammed on his breaks and skidded in a half circle, ending up facing back out into the desert.

“. . . Jessie . . .” The voice coming from Indigo’s speakers was mournful.

“Don’t talk to me. You’re not supposed to talk. You’re supposed to be a car! Cars don’t talk!”

Indigo’s engine revved, sounding threatening in Jess’s ears. More deliberately this time, Indigo took off, only to stop a few feet later. Brawn staggered backward across the road, hands-to-pincers with the scorpion.

“Come on, you overgrown slag heap!” Brawn yelled. “You’re not even trying!”

The scorpion snarled; a horrible metallic shriek that made Jess clap her hands over her ears. In a surprisingly quick movement, Brawn grabbed one huge pincer in both his hands and twisted.

The scorpion screamed as the pincer tore loose. He loosed a succession of lightning fast strikes with his tail, which Brawn either dodged, or blocked with the pincer he’d ripped off.

“Brawn, stop toying with him,” Prowl, said.

Jess looked for the other cop car robot. He was lying on his back in the sand, smoke rising from his body.

“Finish it,” Prowl said. “We need to find Optimus.”

Jess watched as Brawn caught the scorpion’s tail on the next strike. In an impressive show of strength, the smaller robot heaved on the tail and slammed the larger scorpion onto its back. Then Brawn heaved again, swinging the scorpion through the air to crash down on the smoking black robot.

“Let’s go,” Brawn said to his taller companion.

“Not so fast!” a new voice screeched.

Red laser bolts slammed into the sand around Jess, Indigo, and the other two robots. Three jet planes screamed overhead. A limp form hung suspended between two of them. The three jets landed, transforming as they did so, just beyond the two fallen robots.

“Indigo,” Jess moaned, “I want to get out of here. Please!”

Indigo started creeping forward but stopped as a laser bolt from the lead jet burned a hole in the road in front of him.

“Where is Optimus Prime?” the lead jet asked. “We hold one of your comrades hostage, Autobots. Deliver your leader to me and I may let the hostage live.”

“Fat chance, Deceptiscum!” Brawn yelled. “We’re gonna make scrap metal outta you!”

Indigo revved his engine and shot past Brawn and Prowl toward the jet robots.

“Indigo, what are you doing?” Jess cried. She stomped on the brake pedal, but nothing happened. “Indigo!”

The Corolla slammed on his breaks and skidded to the side. At the same time, the door popped open and Jess’s seatbelt came undone. She found herself thudding into the sand and rolling. When she looked up, she was somewhere between the two groups of robots, and Indigo was speeding toward the jet robots.

“INDIGO!” she screamed.

A flash of silver was all the warning Jess had before a skeletal silver robot, about three or four feet tall, tackled her.

“KillFleshbag!AutobotFriend!Die!”

Jess screamed and tried to get the thing off her. She rolled and kicked, felt something warm and sticky slide across her cheek, her back, her arm. She slammed her palm into the thing’s chest, only to howl as bone splintered against metal. Then she was being lifted. Five feet. Ten feet.

“Boo,” a new voice said.

The skeletal silver robot holding her screeched and fired a red laser bolt at something behind Jess. Someone cried out, and Jess found herself falling.

“Jessie!” That sounded like Chris.

She hit the sand hard, saw stars. A familiar voice was calling to her. Gentle hands rolled her to her back. She thought she recognized Chris’s face against the encroaching blackness. And behind him, looming . . .

Something large . . .

Sunlight reflecting off orange metal . . .

Jess closed her eyes and gave up consciousness.


	10. Chapter 10

Frenzy scuttled over Barricade’s chest, mending the damage done by Autobots. The little Decepticon seemed oblivious of his own wounds, inflicted by the ‘bot that had pulled him off the human girl.

“Stupid ‘bot,” Frenzy said, his usual run together speech slowing into distinct words. “What so special about humans anyway? Fleshbags. Easily damaged.” There were still streaks of red across Frenzy’s armor where his razorblades had cut the girl.

“Enough, Frenzy,” Barricade said. “See to your own wounds.”

Frenzy chittered something unintelligible at his partner, but skittered to his toolbox to start his own repairs. He glared at the two figures in the darkest corner of the base. The indigo blue car, which nearly disappeared in the deep shadow, and the red Autobot.

“Frenzy.”

The little ‘Con looked up at Starscream.

“When you’re finished with your repairs, I want you to look over our guests. Prime will come for them, so I don’t want them dying yet. Just repair them enough to keep them alive. Then you can help Thundercracker put Scorponok back together.”

Frenzy nodded, then made a rude noise in the direction of the captives. The red one had attempted escape twice already and Starscream had ordered his legs disabled. Then, in the attack in the desert, the red captive had nearly ripped his own arms off in an attempt to get free.

The blue car was a mystery. It hadn’t transformed, even after taking a beating from Skywarp and Thundercracker. And it didn’t carry any identifying mark, Autobot or Decepticon. It seemed somehow, primitive.

“Stupid ‘bots,” Frenzy growled, and went back to his work.

* * *

Jess woke intermittently over the next few hours. The first time was when they carried her into the hospital room. At least, that’s what she assumed it was. It was bright, almost completely white, and smelled of disinfectant.

“No hospital,” she moaned. “Richard . . .”

“He won’t find you,” Chris’s voice said near her ear. His hand took hers. “You’re safe, Jessie. Relax.”

She did, and the darkness took her again.

Later she’d woken on her stomach. She couldn’t even summon up embarrassment when she found she was naked from the waist up. Something tugged at the skin of her back.

“Chris?” she mumbled.

“He’s not here, little lady. You should still be sleeping. Give her another shot.”

A moment later, warm languor swarmed through her limbs and sleep took her again.

The next time she woke, she was in a room, propped up on pillows. A green camo shirt covered her almost to her knees where khaki shorts peeked out, when she looked.

“You are now officially the property of the U.S. Army,” a voice said.

Jess turned and saw a large black man standing in the doorway of the room. Chris was standing behind him. A frown furrowed Jess’ brow.

“Huh?”

The man and Chris entered the room.

“I spent an hour or so patching you up, little lady, and those are Army issue clothes you’re wearing. You belong to us now.”

Jess’ eyes flicked to Chris’s face seeking an explanation, or reassurance.

“He’s joking,” Chris said as they crossed to her bed. “Though he did patch you up.”

“Name’s Hud,” the black man said with a grin. “Well, Hudson. Hudson Bridges, combat medic, sergeant first class, at your service.” He offered her his hand.

“Jessica Gray,” Jess said, taking Hud’s hand and shaking it. She winced.

“Oops, sorry. That’s your broken hand.”

“Broken?” Jess lifted her hand to examine it. A cast covered her arm from palm to elbow, holding her hand and wrist immobile.

“I’ll leave it to your boyfriend to explain,” Hud said. “I’ve got to get back to the Captain. Rescue operation to plan and all that. Just wanted to check in on you.”

He nodded to Jess and Chris, then left them alone. The silence between them was uncomfortable, and Jess wouldn’t look at Chris.

“I followed you,” Chris said at last. “I saw you pull away from the house. I took Quin inside, then followed.”

“Did you know?” Jess asked. “About Indigo?”

“No. I didn’t. When his radio went off on its own, I honestly thought it was just a faulty wire.”

“You’re taking this pretty well,” Jess groused.

“Well, I’m in a similar situation to yours. That motorcycle that I rescued, well, it—he—turns into a robot too. His name’s Blaze.”

Jess turned and stared at him incredulously.

“He’s a lot smaller than the others,” Chris continued. “Only about seven or eight feet tall, but he’s cool. I’d hoped you might want to meet him. And the others here. They’re all really nice. Well, Brawn keeps muttering about stepping on bugs, but the others are nice. It’s crazy how human they seem at times.”

Jess turned her face away, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Jess,” Chris brushed his fingers across her unbruised cheek. Tthese aren’t the ones that killed your parents. These guys, the Autobots, they’re trying to stop the other ones. The ones that took Indigo.”

Jess sat up and hissed in pain, her eyes watering. “They took Indigo?”

“You didn’t know?”

She sank back into the bed shaking her head and closed her eyes. Tears leaked out from under the lids.

“I yelled at him, Chris. I told him he was a monster. I was so scared, but he protected me, even after what I said.”

She realized what he’d done now. He’d dumped her into the sand and charged the jets to keep her safe. She felt like such a heel.

Chris sat on the edge of the bed and gathered gently her into his arms. “It’ll be okay, Jessie. They’re planning a rescue mission. The Decepticons—the bad guys—have one of the Autobot’s friends. Cliffjumper, I think they said his name was. We’ll get Indigo back as well. I promise.”

“What if he doesn’t want to come back,” Jess cried, clinging to him despite the pain from her wounds. Even though the robots terrified her, Indigo had tried to save her. Probably several times. “He probably hates me.”

“He won’t hate you, Jess. How often did we talk about what happened to your parents while we were working on Indigo? I’m sure he understands.”

Jess held onto Chris and cried until her tears were spent. Chris tried to lay her back down on the bed, but she struggled to swing her legs over the side.

“Hud said something about planning a rescue mission. I want to be in on it. Indigo’s my car.” She blushed at her assumption. “At least I hope he still is. I want to be in on this rescue mission.”

“Jess, you should stay in bed. You got cut up pretty bad by that Decepticon.”

Jess blanched. “What was the damage?”

“It got your cheek, your arm, and your back. Your back was the worst, down to the bone. Your arm was next. Hud said the critter nearly got an artery.”

“I don’t hurt that bad,” Jess said, a note of hysteria in her voice. Her mind was giving her scenarios of nerve damage, or paralyzation.

“You’re pretty amped up on drugs. Hud didn’t want you hurting when you woke up.”

She calmed a little. “Fine. Then he can keep me amped up on drugs until we get Indigo back. I’m going to be a part of this.”

Stubbornly, Jess stood up from the bed. Her arm and cheek throbbed dully with each beat of her heart and sharp pain slid up and down her back in spurts. She decided that Hud didn’t have her on enough drugs, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her. With slow measured steps, Jess walked to the door. Chris stayed at her side, his hands poised to catch her if she faltered. Once in the doorway Jess paused. People in uniforms were hurrying back and forth. Towering above everything were several of the huge robots. Autobots, Chris had called them. Jess leaned against the doorjamb as she fought with her panic at seeing the huge robots.

“You should get back in bed, Jessie,” Chris said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

Jess shrugged him off and started out into the huge room. She stayed close to the wall, with Chris at her side, and walked following the general direction of the people in uniform. A few of the military men and women spared them a glance, but for the most part they were ignored. Then, as Jess watched, a forest green Jeep Landrunner rolled into the base and transformed into a fifteen-foot tall robot.

“Optimus, I think I found them,” the robot’s voice boomed out. He strode off to where an even taller red and blue robot was standing, each step shaking the ground.

Jess froze where she was. Her vision started to go grey at the edges as she hyperventilated. Chris' hands were on her shoulders again.

"Breathe, Jessie. You’re safe. These are the good guys. Just breathe."

Jess turned her face into Chris’ chest and took deep, sobbing breaths.

"Good giant robots," he whispered into her ear. "Friendly giant robots."

Jess giggled and smacked Chris weakly. She looked up again, saw the green robot still talking with the red and blue one. She pointed them out to Chris.

"Let's go talk to them. The green one seems to know something."

Chris guided them across the floor and around the service men and women running around.

"The really tall one, the red and blue one, his name is Optimus Prime,” Chris said. Jess appreciated his attempt to distract—and educate—her. “He's the leader of the Autobots. The green one, I think his name is Hound. He's been scouting for the Decepticon base. From what I hear, he arrived a couple weeks ago, but the Decepticons forced him down on the other side of the globe. Took him a while to get here."

"There're more coming?" Jess asked weakly.

Chris nodded and held her close as they walked. "There was some kind of war on their home planet, and they got scattered all over space. Then, about a month ago, they found a kind of talisman here. So Bumblebee—you'll meet him later—came here on a scouting mission and they've been here ever since."

"Okaaay," Jess said, trying to take it all in.

"Hey watch out!" a voice yelled.

"Brawn!"

Jess looked up and stared in horror at the huge foot, coming down right on top of Chris and her. Then something tackled them both and Jess' world went black as pain exploded down her back. Her ears still worked, even if her vision didn't.

"Use your optics, Brawn!"

"I keep telling you, they're too small."

"It's okay, Blaze." That was Chris’s voice.

"No it isn't! He could have killed you."

"Be calm, all of you." The authority in that voice was apparent even to Jess, out of it as she was.

Jess blinked rapidly, trying to get her senses unscrambled. Her eyes focused on Chris, who was holding her against his chest. Standing over them was an orange and chrome robot. He was smaller than all the other robots she'd seen, save the silver one that had attacked her. She guessed it must be Chris's motorcycle, Blaze. Could they really claim these living beings as theirs, no matter how they'd started?

Jess looked up to see Brawn staring down at her with what was obviously a frown on his metallic face. Her freaked out, pain numbed, and drugged brain wasn’t working correctly and she giggled.

"If she can laugh, she's fine," Brawn said.

"I just didn't know robots could frown," Jess replied.

Brawn humphed, which Jess thought impressive since she was sure he didn't have lungs. "I didn't know such little beings could be such big trouble."

"Brawn—" Again the authoritative voice.

The orange and grey Autobot rolled his steel blue optics and muttered something that might have been 'sorry' before he stomped off.

Jess turned her eyes to the one whose voice had prompted such quick obedience. It was the huge red and blue robot. Optimus Prime. Human eyes met Autobot optics and to Jess' amazement, the robot smiled.

_He has such a mobile face_ , she thought.

She smiled back. Jess felt Chris sit up behind her, but she stayed reclining against him. Her back hurt horribly. Optimus Prime went to one knee next to them.

"Please forgive Brawn. He's still getting used to this planet and its inhabitants."

"He saved my life," Jess said. "Me and Indigo. I'm very grateful to him."

Optimus' smile widened. Jess was surprised how at ease she felt with this giant robot.

"I want to help find my friend, Indigo" she said. "I may be small, I may be fragile, but I want to help. After all, it's my fault he’s is in trouble."

"No it's not, Jess," Chris murmured, hugging her.

"It is," she insisted, wincing as her back twinged again. "I yelled at him. I called him names."

"Jessica," Optimus said gently, "you may join us as we plan the rescue, but I believe it would be better for you to wait here for your friend. You are injured."

"It's not so bad," Jess said.

To prove her point, she pushed away from Chris and tried to stand. She heard Chriss shout at the same time that pain blazed through her back. She cried out and fell back to the floor.

"Jessie!" Chris yelled. "Oh no, her back's soaked. I think she ripped the stitches when Brawn nearly stepped on us. Jess."

"Hurts," Jess whimpered.

Someone yelled for Hud and there was the sound of squealing tires close by. Jess kept her eyes closed and fought back waves of nausea.

"Chris." She reached out, felt his warm fingers close around hers.

"You'll be okay, Jessie. Blaze went to get Hud. He'll fix you up again."

She dared to open her eyes, saw Chris' image swimming before her. She blinked and felt tears course down her cheeks. She swore she could feel the gaze of Optimus Prime weighing on her. More tears spilled from her eyes.

_Maybe I am too fragile to help Indigo_ , she thought miserably.

Blaze came roaring back in motorcycle form, Hud on the seat. The combat medic leapt off as Blaze stopped and ran to Jess' side. Blaze was transformed and hovering nearby as the medic peeled Jess' blood-soaked shirt away from her skin.

"How bad is it, Doc?" she asked, trying to lighten her own dark mood.

"Popped your stitches wide open, little lady," Hud said.

"It's my fault," Chris said in a rush. "Brawn nearly stepped on us and I tackled her to try and get us out of the way."

"I'll slag him," Blaze growled.

"Will . . . not . . . !" Jess gasped as Hud looked over her back. "Don't fight because of—ouch!—of me. I'll live."

"I need to get her back to the med bay," Hud said. "Gotta restitch this wound. I need to get a stretcher and a couple of guys." He turned to get the help he needed.

"Wait," Optimus said. "I'll carry her."

Jess' heart did a flip flop at the thought of the huge robot holding her in his massive metal hand, several feet off the ground, but she kept silent. The sooner she got her wound fixed the better. Chris and Hud gently lifted her into Optimus' hand. She bit back a scream as they moved her, resting her on her belly in the huge palm. She was surprised to find his hand was warm.

_Not what I expected from a robot's hand_ , Jess thought.

The warmth seemed to seep into her body, relaxing her. She didn't even notice Optimus move, so smooth was his gait. In a moment she was back in the med bay, on her stomach on a gurney.

"Just a little something to ease the pain," Hud's voice murmured in her ear.

She felt a quick sting in her arm and all sense faded.


	11. Chapter 11

"Chris?" Jess whispered.

She thought she was awake but wasn't sure. It was quiet. And dark. And she couldn't seem to open her eyes.

"I'm here. It's after midnight," Chris' voice said softly from the darkness. A cool hand rested on her forehead, glided down to her cheek. "Everyone's gone to get our missing friends back."

Jess fought down a pang of betrayal. "They were supposed to wait for me."

"They couldn't wait, Jessie." His hand took hers. "They'd found the base. They had to attack while the Decepticons were still weakened from the first battle."

"I suppose."

The hands withdrew and Jess made a small noise of protest.

"I'm going to flip on a light," Chris said. "Close your eyes."

"They _are_ closed. It feels like there's lead weights attached to them."

She still winced as the lights came up. She forced her eyes open, and blinked a couple times. Chris stood next to the bed. He'd switched on a small bedside lamp. She jumped at seeing Blaze crouched near the door behind Chris.

"Sorry," the robot said. "Didn't mean to startle you."

"I thought everyone was gone," Jess said, looking back at Chris.

"Most are," he replied. "Of the Autobots, only Bumblebee and Blaze are here. There's a couple of scientist types, and Sam and Mikaela. Optimus wouldn't let them fight either. I guess Sam had something to do with that talisman I told you about earlier. Bumblebee is Sam's guardian, and Mikaela is Sam's girlfriend."

Jess nodded. "Somehow, it's not so lonely knowing there are others with such big friends." She looked at Blaze again. "Thank you for saving Chris and me."

The silver and orange robot shrugged and managed to look embarrassed. "S'no problem. I couldn't let you two get squished."

Jess reached out for Chris' hand and felt his fingers close around hers. She smiled at Blaze. "Thanks again."

Chris gave her hand a squeeze, then gently twisted her arm in the light. He let out a low whistle.

"Ratchet's stuff sure worked well," he said.

"Who's Ratchet and what stuff?" Jess asked. She craned her neck, trying to see.

"Ratchet's the Autobot medic. He was appalled at how severely you were wounded and even more so when he learned you'd probably be scarred from the cuts. He disappeared into the back of the base. That was when you were first brought in. As Hud was sewing up your back the second time, Ratchet came in, or so I'm told. I wasn't there."

"They made us stay away while Hud worked on you," Blaze said.

"Hud came out of the med center, shaking his head and looking all impressed. Said Ratchet'd mixed up something. Collagen, elastin, protein, some other stuff, Hud said it looked like skin colored whipped cream. Ratchet put it on your wounds. When Hud wiped it off a few hours later, the wounds had closed completely. There's hardly any scarring."

Jess looked at her arm. There was a faint thin silvery line where the cut had been.

"Wow," she whispered. "My back's the same?"

"Well," Chris said with a blush, "I haven't checked, but the scar on your cheek is nearly invisible. Ratchet's cream did something for your bruises as well."

"Cool. Alright then, let's go."

"Go where?" Blaze asked. He looked excited.

"We've got to find the others."

"Jessie . . ." Chris said.

"I'm not staying here," Jess said. "I need to help Indigo. Look, Ratchet's goo seems to have done a lot of good to my wounds. There's no reason for me to stay behind now."

"They've been gone for a while," Blaze interjected.

"That's fine. Maybe we'll meet them coming back. If so, I can ride with Indigo, if he'll have me. But if they're still battling, maybe we can help them."

Chris stared at her for a long moment.

"What?" she asked defensively.

"Jess, we're a _lot_ smaller than the rest of them. And, you and I at least, are flesh. Even that little Decepticon was more than a match for you."

Jess frowned. "He just caught me by surprise. I'd kick his trash if we had a rematch."

Blaze chuckled. "You're feisty. I like that."

Jess blushed and smiled, then looked back to Chris. "So, what are you waiting for? Let's get going."

"Blaze, you're not helping my case," Chris said, though his voice was resigned.

The robot shrugged. "You might want to go get something more suitable for her to wear. I'll get her up and moving."

"Oh, for the love of—fine! I'll see what I can scrounge up."

Chris left the room and Jess took a peek at her clothes. She was in the khaki shorts and a new, smaller, camo green shirt.

"Are you in pain?" Blaze asked.

Jess shook her head. "I'm either really amped up on drugs again, or Ratchet's miracle cream did more than put my skin back together."

She threw back the sheet. Pain zinged up her back as she swung her legs off the bed and she hissed. "Okay, so maybe I'm not as pain-free as I thought."

"Let me help," Blaze said.

He offered Jess his hand, and after only a slight hesitation, she took it. To her surprise, the metal under her skin was warm, as Optimus’ had been. Spindly metallic fingers closed over her hand and she felt the inherent strength in Blaze's movement as he gently helped her to her feet.

"You're warm," Jess said, "and you could rip my arm off if you wanted."

"But, I don't want," Blaze said. A smile turned up his metallic lips. "I'd protect you, and Chris, with my life."

Jess' eyes stung with tears. "Why?"

Blaze released her. "It just seems right. This is your planet. If it weren't for humans creating me in the first place, I wouldn't have been able to be as I am today. And Chris took such care in putting me back together."

"But that doesn't explain why you'd protect _me_ ," she insisted.

"Chris cares for you. I want to protect whatever makes him happy."

A smile lit Jess' face and a sound, somewhere between a laugh and a sob, escaped her. "I don't fully understand, but thank you."

Chris came in a moment later, his arms full of clothing, all sand-camo colored.

"Sorry, I couldn't find anything else," he said. "I got a couple different sizes, so hopefully there'll be something that fits."

Jess hugged him. "Thank you, Chris. This means a lot to me. I have to make up with Indigo."

"Sure." He held her tight for a moment. "I'll be right back with boots and helmets,"

She went through the pile, trying things on until she was clothed in relatively well fitting pants and a shirt with a padded jacket over the top. Jess walked to the door and looked out into the large room beyond. The computer screens were glowing.

"All lit up, but no one's home," Jess whispered.

"What was that?" Blaze came out and stood next to her.

"It just feels a bit eerie here, with everything so bright, but no activity. Didn't Chris mention that someone else was still here?"

"There's Maggie and Glen, they're working on decoding a message that came in right before everyone left. And I think Bumblebee is around here somewhere with his human friends."

"Think they'd try to stop us?" she asked.

Blaze stood up a little straighter. "I think we might be about to find out."

Chris was running toward them, his arms full of equipment.

"Hurry and get some boots on," he said. "I've got the helmet ready."

"Are we in trouble?" Jess asked, bending to tie the laces.

"Possibly. Sam saw me and I think he guessed what I'm up to. We've got to get going."

"I'm ready."

Jess stood and Chris handed her a helmet. Blaze transformed into his motorcycle form and Chris and Jess climbed onto the seat.

"Hold on tight, you two. I might have to do some fancy driving to get us out of here."

At the entrance to the base, a large yellow robot stood blocking their way. Bumblebee, Jess thought. She could make out two smaller figures near the robot's feet. Blaze revved his engine and started toward Bumblebee.

"Stop!" Bumblebee shouted.

Jess was surprised at how young he sounded. Blaze sped up.

"Please, stop!” Bumblebee said. “You're not supposed to leave!"

Jess's arms tightened around Chris's waist and her breathing came more rapidly.

_We're gonna crash_ , she thought. _He's not moving_.

She could see Sam and Mikaela now, standing at Bumblebee's feet. They were waving frantically and yelling.

"We're gonna crash," Jess yelled.

"No, we won't," Blaze said.

"Close your eyes," Chris said at the same time.

Jess kept her eyes open and the world seemed to go into slow motion.

Sam grabbed Mikeala and ran to one side.

Bumblebee crouched down and reached for them.

Blaze dodged those huge metallic hands, turned sideways and began to slide under the larger robot.

Chris leaned to the side as if laying the motorcycle down and Jess felt her knee slide along the ground.

_We'll never get back up_ , she thought. But as they cleared Bumblebee, a spindly arm popped out from under the seat of the motorcycle and pushed against the ground.

Time snapped back into place. They were on two wheels, and after some fancy maneuvering by Blaze to get them balanced again, they were heading out into the desert.

"Come back!" Bumblebee yelled.

Jess panted and clutched Chris.

"Are we alive?" she gasped.

"I think so," Chris called back.

She didn't miss the tension in his voice.

"Glad I'm not the only one scared out of my wits," she muttered.

"They're following," Blaze said.

"That's fine," Jess called over the roar of the engine. "As long as they don't catch us before we find Indigo."


	12. Chapter 12

They sped down the gravel and sand track through the desert, Blaze keeping a steady lead on Bumblebee.

"Do you know where the others are?" Jess asked.

"I have the coordinates that Hound gave the Autobots. But I have a feeling we won't be able to miss it."

Jess nodded, tightening her grip on Chris.

_We're heading into a war zone_ , she thought. _Maybe this was a bad idea. We could die. But I can't leave Indigo._

She looked over Chris' shoulder, searching the bleak sandy waste for any sign of battle.

* * *

"I'm detecting an Autobot signature." Thundercracker turned his sensors to the ground below, spotted the Camero and the motorcycle. "Look Skywarp! Starscream was right. They had reinforcements."

"Too bad they'll never reach their comrades," the other 'Con said.

The two jet Decepticons circled over the desert, watching Blaze, Bumblebee, and their passengers. Together, the two jets began a steep dive, missiles and lasers armed.

* * *

Over the roar of Balze's engine, came another sound. Jess craned her neck as she looked around.

"What is it, Jessie?" Chris asked.

"Planes," she said. "I can hear them, but I don't . . ."

Sand exploded around them as bright beams of energy slammed into the ground. Jess screamed and clung to Chris as Blaze dodged more of the beams.

"Decepticons!" Bumblebee cried behind them.

Jess looked back. Sam and Mikaela had gotten out of Bumblebee's car form and the Camero was transforming into his bipedal mode, guns firing back at the two jets.

"We've got to help them," Jess yelled. "They're sitting ducks!"

"What can we do?" Chris called back. "We can't take Sam and Mikaela with us. We don't have any weapons except what Blaze has."

"Two on two is better than two on one," Jess insisted. "They wouldn't be in trouble if they hadn't followed us."

"She's right, Chris,” Blaze said. “Maybe 'Bee and I can bring the Decepticons down. But alone, Bumblebee is dead, and so are Sam and Mikaela."

Chris swore, slammed on the breaks, and wrenched the bike around in a spray of sand.

Blaze muttered something unintelligible, then said louder, "I can drive too, you know. Now hop off. I'm not taking the two of you back into that."

Jess got off immediately, but Chris seemed reluctant. Blaze solved the problem by rearing up then speeding away, ripping his handlebars out of Chris' grip. The young man was left on his butt, spitting sand. Jess knelt at his side.

"You hurt?"

"No, but if he comes back alive, I'm going to kick him. I'm lucky he didn't pull my arms off."

They were silent as they watched Blaze streak back to the battle. Bumblebee stood alone, somehow Sam and Mikaela had gotten away and were hiding among the dunes. As Blaze neared Bumblebee, the two Decepticon jets screamed overhead, lasers blasting. Blaze jumped, transformed midair, and yelled something at Bumblebee. The yellow 'Bot caught Blaze, turned, and hurled the smaller robot after the jets as they were turning to come around for another pass. Jess clutched Chris' shirt as Blaze landed on the closer jet and began firing into the cockpit area. The jet went into a wild spin, but Blaze clung on. A moment later a plume of sand spewed into the air as the jet crashed. Jess' heart leapt to her throat. Where was Blaze?

The other jet came around, firing two missiles at Bumblebee. The Autobot managed to hit one of the missiles with his own weapons, destroying it, but the other missile exploded into the ground a few feet from Bumblebee, sending the 'Bot flying backward.

"No!" Jess screamed.

She was on her feet and running, before conscious though caught up with her. There wasn't anything she could do for Bumblebee. She knew that, but she couldn't watch him die when it was her fault. Maybe she could get the Decepticon to fire at her and leave Bumblebee alone. She waved her arms and yelled, trying to draw the jet's attention.

"Jessie!"

Chris tackled her from behind. The breath left her lungs as she hit the ground, Chris on top of her. Sand exploded around them and heat washed over Jess' skin. She tried to scream, but only a moan came out.

"Are you stupid?" Chris yelled at her.

Her eyes flicked to his face. He was crying.

"Do you want to die?" He crushed her to his chest.

Jess shook her head as she tried to get her breath back. She looked around. Bumblebee was getting to his feet. Her own tears spilled down her cheeks. He was alive. Then, movement to their right, drew Jess' attention. There was nothing to see, but the sand was mounding up and spilling as if pushed by a huge foot.

She drew in a breath. "Chris." She pointed.

As he looked, the air shimmered and something tall and purple/white was visible for a split second. Jess turned back to Bumblebee. His back was to whatever was moving in his direction. The jet Decepticon was diving at the yellow Autobot again.

"Bumblebee, look out!" she screamed.

The 'Bot turned at the sound of her voice. The air where Jess had seen the sand shifting shimmered and a huge white and violet robot appeared. A missile flew from a shoulder mounted launcher and struck the Decepticon jet in the belly. The resulting fireball engulfed Bumblebee as the jet soared over the Autobot's head, only to crash into the sand a few hundred yards away.

Jess stared at the white and violet robot, her brain trying to catch up with events. The 'Bot turned to her and smiled.

"Guess my electro-disruptor isn't quite attuned to the atmospheric conditions of this arid climate."

"Mirage!" Bumblebee yelled, limping to where the larger 'Bot stood.

"Hey, 'Bee. Look at you. All grown up and taking on Decepticons by yourself."

"I had some help," the younger 'bot said. "Speaking of which—" He turned and gave Jess and appraising look, under which she blushed furiously.

"It's my fault you were attacked," she said defensively. "You wouldn't have been out here if it weren't for me."

Bumblebee nodded. "Right. So, let's get back to the base."

"No! Not until I've got Indigo back."

"Jess," Chris said gently.

She pushed away from him and stood defiantly before the two large robots.

"I'm not going back. I'll walk to the Decepticon base if I have to."

"I knew she was a feisty one," a familiar voice said.

Blaze came rolling up with Sam and Mikaela on his motorcycle form. The two humans climbed off and Blaze transformed. Jess gave a cry of relief and ran to the robot, throwing her arms around his waist.

"I thought you were dead," she said.

"Naw, I'm harder to kill than that. Just dented a bit. I jumped clear before my ride crashed." He patted her back gently. "Let's go find your friend."

He transformed back into his motorcycle form and Jess climbed on immediately.

"Jess," Chris said sharply. "We're not going to do Indigo any good. Look what happened here. Bumblebee nearly got killed and so did we. We're not going anywhere near the Decepticon base. The other Autobots will bring him home."

"She seems pretty determined," Mirage said.

"Stay out of this!" Chris snarled. "She doesn't need any more help getting herself into trouble."

"Chris," Jess said softly. "Please try to understand. I wasn't there when my parents were killed. I couldn't do anything when Richard hit me, or when the police came and took Liam from me. I can't just sit safe at the base and wait for news of Indigo. I have to be there. Maybe I can't do anything, but I won't just sit and let life happen around me. Not anymore. I want to be the first to know what happens. I don't want to be told second hand."

"Jessie—"

"Please come with me, Chris." She looked at Bumblebee and Mirage, Sam and Mikaela. "Please come with me."

There was a long moment of silence.

"I'm game," Mirage said with a shrug. He transformed into a violet and white Williams FW28 Formula One race car. "Just show me the way. It's been a while since I fought Decepticons."

"We'll come," Mikaela said.

Sam nodded. "We've survived a couple Decepticon attacks already. We'll show you the ropes."

Jess laughed and smiled thankfully.

"Guess that means I'm coming," Bumblebee said. He transformed into his car form and Sam and Mikaela got in.

Jess turned to Chris, held out her hand. "Please."

Chris scrubbed his hands through his hair, then walked forward and took her hand.

"What choice do I have? If I don't come, I'm walking back to the base."

Jess gave a little squeal of delight and hugged Chris hard.

"Thank you," she whispered in his ear. "I swear I won't do anything stupid."

"Right," he murmured, hugging her back. "I'm going to make sure you stay out of trouble."

He swung onto the bike behind her. "Let's go make sure our friends are okay."

With Blaze leading the way, the group headed out toward the Decepticon base.


	13. Chapter 13

The battlefield was strewn with huge smoking craters. They passed the burning wrecks of two military vehicles and Jess was glad to see no bodies. Behind a large outcrop of rock she could see the Autobots sheltering with the human military forces that had accompanied them. Across the field was what looked like a military bunker.

"I think we're losing," Jess said, dismayed.

"We should have stayed back at the base," Chris muttered.

Jess felt heat creep up her neck and cheeks. He was still mad at her. Her hands tightened around Blaze's handlebars as she stared at the rapidly approaching Autobots. A big black Autobot, Ironhide, Jess thought his name was, motioned them to stay back.

"Look out!" someone yelled.

A high-pitched whine filled the air, and a second later, the ground to the left of Jess exploded. Blaze veered right, toward the battlefield.

"Not that way!" Ironhide cried.

Another explosion forced Blaze and his passengers farther out onto the crater strewn field. The other Autobots were leaving cover and returning fire at a huge canon in the bunker.

"Blaze, get us outta here!" Jess yelled.

"On it!"

Blaze executed a gut wrenching 180 degree turn and started back to the relative safety of the Autobots, only to come to a halt as the sand in front of them erupted again. This time the cause wasn't the huge cannon, but the giant metal scorpion Jess had seen fighting Brawn before. The scorpion snapped his pincers at them and raised his deadly tail overhead.

"Scorponok will finish you," the metal creature hissed.

Jess yelped as Blaze drove forward toward the creature to avoid its tail. Chris' arms clenched around her waist. Blaze reversed as the claws snapped in their faces. Two Autobot energy bolts hit the scorpion in rapid succession and more exploded in the sand around him. With a metallic snarl, Scorponok dove beneath the sand.

"Where'd it go?" Chris yelled, looking around them.

Jess looked too, afraid that it'd come up under them as it had when she was with Indigo. Seconds later her fears were realized as Scorponok exploded up through the sand beneath them. Huge claws snapped, trying to snatch her, or Chris, or Blaze out of the air, but momentum carried them out of reach of the Decepticon's claws.

Jess screamed as she started to fall. Surely a fall from this height would kill her, and Chris. She looked for Chris, but didn't see him as her world spun crazily. Then something caught her around the waist and her viewpoint was twisted around so she was looking at the sky.

"I've got you, Jessie," a voice said in her ear.

For a second, she thought it was Indigo. Then she caught sight of the metallic hands around her waist.

"Blaze—"

They hit the ground, Blaze somehow on his feet. Jess' head snapped on her neck and her vision went dark for a second.

"Jess, you okay."

"I think I'm . . ." She had to pause as a wave of nausea washed over her. She was grateful for Blaze's hands supporting her. "I'll live."

"Lie down a minute."

He lowered her to the sand and she lay, eyes closed, wondering why they weren't dead.

"Chris," she whispered.

"Mirage got him," Blaze said. "He's safe, which is more than I can say for us."

Jess nodded and lay still again, listening to the sounds of the firefight going on overhead. Her brow furrowed and she looked up. They'd fallen into one of the craters that littered the battlefield. Blaze was crawling up the side to see what was going on. A moment later he slid down the slope and knelt at her side.

"We've got two choices," he said. "That canon has our side pinned down. At this rate, they won't be able to get into the bunker to rescue either Indigo or Cliffjumper. On the other hand, you and I are about halfway there. If we can get to that canon and disable it—"

"Then the Autobots can come in and take care of the rest," Jess finished.

Blaze nodded. "That's my theory."

Jess nodded and sat up. "I'm game. When do we go?"

"How about right now?"

Blaze transformed and revved his engine. Jess climbed onto the seat and gripped the handlebars.

"Just close your eyes and let me do the driving," Blaze urged.

"Driving's all yours," Jess replied. "But I'm gonna keep my eyes open."

"Okay, here we go!"

Blaze shot forward and up the incline of the crater. They crested the lip and raced toward the bunker, dodging energy bolts and spraying sand.

Jess took small desperate gasps of air as they raced toward the Decepticon base. Any second she expected the huge canon to turn her way and blast her and Blaze out of existence. But though the canon kept up a steady fire at the Autobots, it never aimed for Blaze or her.

_We're too close_ , she realized after a moment. _It can't target us_.

The revelation wasn't much help. She hadn't seen any sign of the Decepticons since arriving at the scene. They were still some hiding within the bunker.

With a sideways skid, Blaze and Jess fetched up against one wall of the bunker. Jess got off and Blaze quickly transformed, his left arm transforming into a gun. Jess nearly lost her nerve then, but Blaze urged her toward a door in the building. She swallowed against a dry throat and fought the urge to vomit. Blaze pulled the door open and checked inside, weapon at the ready. He started inside, motioning for Jess to follow.

It was dark inside, and the sounds of the battle outside were muted. It was cool too. A change from the hot desert air.

"Canon's this way," Blaze said, starting down a left-hand hallway.

Jess followed, making every effort to be silent. It wasn't easy in her Army issue boots, but she managed, walking mostly on her toes. The overall silence of the base was eerie.

_I almost wish one of those huge robots would jump out and say "found you"_ , Jess thought. _This sneaking around isn't good for my nerves_.

Up ahead, the hallway opened into a large, hanger-like room. Jess could see bright flashes and hear the boom as the canon went off again and again.

"This is great," Blaze said softly. "We'll disable the canon without any problem and then—"

"And then what, mini 'Bot?" a deep voice asked.

Jess gasped and crashed into Blaze as a small spindly robot charged into the hallway behind her, and a huge black robot loomed over them from the hanger area.

"Now's your chance to kick his trash," Blaze said, holding Jess at his side as Frenzy skittered toward them.

"Oh no! Blaze, no! I was so _not_ even being serious when I said that."

Her sentence ended in scream as Frenzy launched himself into the air. Blaze turned his back to the huge black Decepticon for a second and fired, knocking Frenzy away back down the hall.

"Frenzy!" the big black 'Con yelled.

While he was distracted, Blaze picked up Jess and darted between the taller robot's legs, heading for the canon.

"You're insane!" Jess yelled.

Blaze just laughed. "Stop the canon and we'll have reinforcements. I'll hold the big guy off."

He set her down near the base of the canon and ran off, yelling insults and firing at the larger robot. Jess looked at the canon. It was a cylindrical base with a long 'gun' muzzle sticking out about twenty-five feet above Jess's head.

"'Stop the canon' he says. How on earth am I supposed to stop something that big?"

She ran around the base of the canon trying to find something that would help her. Shots, and Blaze's voice rang out in the background. At the back of the turret, she found an access panel that had been removed. Wiring stuck out of the hole connected to a laptop.

"It can't be that easy," she murmured.

She peeked around the canon to see how Blaze was doing. Somehow, he'd climbed up into the rafters of the bunker and was firing down at the bigger robot almost nonstop. The black 'Con seemed disinclined to fire back and was instead, trying to get up at Blaze. Praying her new friend would be all right, Jess went back to the laptop, and froze. The freaky silver robot, Frenzy, was running at her, waving its spindly arms and shouting something.

"Blaze!" she screamed.

* * *

Indigo roused himself from a stupor. Had that been Jessie's voice?

No. She wouldn't come. She'd called him a freak. A monster.

He'd only wanted to protect her. To stay with her.

But she'd shunned him.

_< Don’t blame her too much,>_ the voice in his consciousness said. _< Given her past history . . . I’m sure she’ll come around.>_

Indigo sunk down on his tires, not cheered by the pep talk.

A shot rang through the silence of the bunker and beside Indigo, Cliffjumper perked up.

"Hear that?" the red Autobot asked.

Indigo made a small affirmative noise.

"I think the other Autobots must have gotten past that canon. We'll be outta here in no time."

Indigo didn't feel so certain, but didn't have the energy to contradict the 'Bot.

"Frenzy!" Barricade's voice called.

"Definitely another someone in here with us beside Blackie and his mini 'Con," Cliffjumper said.

_< I told you Optimus would come for us.>_

Several more shots rang out and the rumble of Barricade's steps vibrated up through Indigo's tires. And a lighter vibration, like a smaller 'Bot, but larger than Frenzy.

"NotouchNotouchNotouch," Frenzy's shrill voice rang out. "Stupidfleshbag! Notouch! Barricade!"

"Blaze!"

Indigo started into full wakefulness. That was Jessie's voice!

"Flesh bag? Human? Here?" Cliffjumper sounded incredulous.

Indigo revved his engine, shifted into gear, and squealed out into the hanger. His sensors found Barricade and he accelerated toward the Decepticon.

* * *

Jess grabbed the laptop, ripping it free of the cables that connected it to the canon, and dove into the open access hatch. Frenzy was right behind her. She could feel his sharp claws snagging and shredding the pants she wore. She kicked and burrowed deeper into the nest of wires that filled the inside of the turret.

"Get away," she screamed. "Get away!"

She turned and lashed out with the laptop, smacking the silver robot in the head. Bloodred optics met frightened green eyes and Frenzy snarled. Jess screamed again and lashed out with the laptop, hitting the robot again and again. One metallic clawed hand caught the laptop on the next downswing and ripped it from Jess' grip. She was left staring at Frenzy. She cringed, waiting for the killing blow, only to be sent sprawling by a tremendous crash that reverberated through the bunker.

"Frenzy," Barricade's menacing voice called, "Retreat! The base is breached!"

The small robot snarled at Jess again and lunged. She rolled and felt Frenzy's claws shred through her jacket and shirt, narrowly missing slicing her back open again.

"Frenzy!"

There was a sickening snap as Frenzy kicked Jess' leg, then skittered out of the turret. Jess moaned as she tried to move her leg, which had gone numb. Gritting her teeth, she dragged herself back to the access hatch.

"Jess," she heard Blaze call. "Jess!"

She lay still, panting, trying to gather herself.

"Here," she tried to yell. Her voice came out breathy and deeper than normal. "I'm here."

" **Warning** ," a loud voice said, echoing through the bunker. " **Self-destruct activated. Three minutes to base destruction.** "

Jess whimpered and with a heave, fell out of the turret. Her leg struck the floor and she screamed. Large hands lifted her and a cry escaped her as her leg was jostled.

"Leg's broken," Blaze's voice said near her ear.

"Get her outside." That voice was familiar. Optimus Prime?

"Indigo," Jess said. She blinked, trying to get her eyes to focus again. "Where's Indigo?"

"He's fine," Blaze assured her. "He's being loaded now."

"Loaded?"

Blaze moved out from behind the canon and Jess saw Indigo being pushed—rear bumper first—into a semi-trailer by Brawn. A red Autobot she thought must be Cliffjumper was being carried toward the trailer by Prowl and Hound.

Jess tried to climb out of Blaze's arms and bit her lip against the pain the movement caused.

"I want to be with Indigo."

" **Two minutes, thirty seconds to base destruction** ," the loud voice said.

"We don't have time now," Blaze said. "When we get back to the base and your leg looked at."

"Indigo!" Jess yelled.

There was a screech of tires and the Corolla suddenly stopped moving and Brawn muttered something.

"Indigo we need to talk!" Jess called.

Silence stretched as everyone in the bunker looked from Jess to Indigo. Finally, Indigo's lights blinked, and he rolled out of sight into the trailer.

" **One minute to base destruction**."

Blaze hurried out of the bunker through a large hole in the wall and gently loaded Jess onto a gurney in the back of Ratchet's ambulance form where Hud waited for her.

"Looks like you've been having adventures without the rest of us," Hud teased.

Blaze slammed the doors and yelled, "Go!"

Ratchet took off rapidly, nearly catapulting Hud to the floor.

"A little more finesse there, please," the human medic admonished.

"Forgive me," Ratchet's voice said. "But we have less than forty seconds to get out of the blast range."

Jess bit back a yell as she forced herself to sit up. Vehicles were piling out of the base at top speed. Mirage, Blaze, and then Bumblebee passed them rapidly and the others were gaining. The one farthest behind was Optimus Prime, hauling the trailer with Indigo, and other passengers, in it.

"Come on," Jess urged, wincing as the rough terrain jostled her leg. "Come on!"

"They'll be fine, Missy," Hud said.

Jess ignored him, staring at the vehicles behind them. A fireball erupted from the sand behind Optimus Prime and a moment later, Jess had to grab for support as the ground beneath Ratchet bucked wildly. Jess held her breath as she watched the trailer attached to Optimus rock dangerously and expelled the breath noisily when it didn't topple. With a groan, Jess fell back on the gurney.

Something cold swabbed her arm and then she felt a prick.

"There's a little something to help you sleep," Hud said. "When you wake up again, you should be in good shape."

"Thank you," Jess said. "Tell everyone, 'thank you' for me. And, I'm sorry."

Hud smiled and patted her hand. "Will do, 'lil lady. You just rest now."

Jess closed her eyes and let unconsciousness take her away.


	14. Chapter 14

"Then, outta nowhere, Indigo rams into Barricade sending him crashing head over heels."

"Good grief," Jess said, grinning. "No wonder poor Indigo's nose was all crumpled in."

They were in the infirmary at the Autobot base. Blaze was recounting the fight in the bunker for Chris, Sam, Mikaela, and the wounded soldiers in the room.

"And that's when Ironhide blew a hole in the wall," Sam interjected. "I think Barricade left a dust trail a mile long, he got out of there so fast."

"Him and that freaky little Frenzy of his," Jess said.

Chris put a hand on her shoulder and the others smiled sympathetically. It had taken Hud and a couple other combat medics two hours of surgery to pin Jess’ femur. Frenzy's kick had snapped the bone in half and severely damaged the surrounding muscles. No one had said anything, but Jess had a feeling she'd never walk without the aid of a crutch or cane.

"So, what about you guys?" Jess said. "Did you have any trouble besides the canon?"

"Starscream showed up," Sam said, his eyes alight with the story. "And Scorponok was making things interesting, popping up and down in the sand. Brawn and Ironhide finally took him out."

"What about Starscream?" Jess asked.

"Well, another jet came flying in, and I thought 'we're all screwed' 'cause Mirage and Prowl had been hurt and Ratchet was trying to patch them up, and everyone was already dodging the canon fire, but this jet, it turned out to be on our side."

"Skyfire is his name," Blaze said.

"Right," Sam continued. "So, Skyfire and Starscream start to duke it out. Well, not really duke it out 'cause they're flying and all, but they keep firing at each other, and they're both taking hits, and then Skyfire transforms midair and lands on Starscream's back and practically rips his nose cone off. Not to mention putting several holes through his wings."

"To make a long story short," Mikaela broke in, "Starscream retreated, the canon stopped, and we found you guys."

"So, everyone's okay?" Jess asked.

"For the most part," Chris said. "Ratchet's had his hands full working on injured Autobots, and Hud's team has been working almost nonstop as well."

Jess nodded.

A horrible screeching noise filled the room as the enormous door that separated the infirmary from the rest of the base was pushed back and Ratchet stepped into the room.

"Sorry," he said as several of the soldiers complained about the noise. The Autobot medic hunkered down next to Jess' bed.

"Jessica, your friend wants to see you."

Jess gulped. "Indigo?"

Ratchet nodded.

With Chris and Sam's help, Jess climbed into Ratchet's hand. She gave them a wave and Ratchet carried her from the recovery wing and out into the main base.

There weren't many Autobots around. Jess guessed that the wounded ones were still in the Autobot-sized med bay. She saw Brawn and Prowl huddled around a viewing screen with Optimus Prime and a huge red-and-white Autobot Jess hadn't seen before.

"That's Skyfire," Ratchet said, noting where she was looking.

"I'd like to meet him later," Jess said.

"I think we can arrange that.”

With a nod at the Autobot leader, Ratchet carried Jess back into a hallway she'd not noticed before.

"I'm taking you to our Hall of Remembrance," Ratchet said, his voice low. "It's kind of like a human mausoleum. We've only one brave warrior interred here now, Jazz, Optimus's second in command. Optimus fears that if our battle with the Decepticons goes on too long, more will fill this sacred place."

Jess shivered. "Why is Indigo here? He's not—"

"No. He's not dead. He just feels out of place. He's not like us Autobots, able to transform and move about on our own, and he's not a human vehicle anymore. He wanted some time alone."

Ratchet stepped into a darkened room and Jess could practically feel the space open up around them. The room had to be huge.

"Forward lights," Ratchet said.

A bank of soft yellow lights came on overhead and extended several feet into the room, but still did not light the whole space. Jess gasped, seeing a large silver Autobot standing in a hollowed out space in the left wall. A clear case protected the body from outside elements.

"That's Jazz," Ratchet said, and Jess could hear the sorrow in his voice. "I couldn't save him."

Jess hugged the medic's thumb. "I'm sorry. How . . . how did he die?"

"Megatron ripped him in half."

Jess cringed. "I shouldn't have asked. I'm sorry."

She was silent as she looked around. "Where’s Indigo?" she whispered after a moment.

"Indigo," Ratchet called, making Jess jump. His deep tones rolling into the darkness. There was a soft noise, the faint sound of sad music. A moment later, Jess detected movement coming toward them. A moment of irrational fear filled her and her hands tightened around Ratchet's finger.

"Are you all right, Jessica? I detect that your heart rate has gone up as have your respirations."

Jess swallowed hard. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just a little—"

Her voice died away as a gleaming indigo-blue Toyota Corolla rolled silently out of the shadowy depths of the mausoleum. All the dents the Decepticons had inflicted on him had been removed from his body, and he looked like new again.

"Indigo?"

The Corolla's lights came on. Blinked off.

"I'll leave the two of you alone," Ratchet said.

"Wait—" she started to say.

The Autobot medic deposited Jess on the ground near Indigo. She gave him a frustrated glare as he strode from the hall. She only had one good leg to stand on and it was awkward holding the other one off the ground.

Indigo's driver side door opened, and he rolled forward. Jess gripped the door gratefully.

" . . . come on over . . ." Christina Aguilera's voice came from Indigo's speakers.

The door wiggled under Jess' hands as if motioning her to sit in the driver's seat.

"I was horrible to you," Jess whispered, her voice catching.

The door wiggled again, and Jess moved closer, sinking into the seat. Her hands slid along the steering wheel, then she dropped her head back against the head rest, allowing the tears to come.

"I'm sorry, Indigo."

Soft music box-like music started playing. Snow Patrol.

_You could be happy and I won't know._

_But you weren't happy the day I watched you go._

_And all the things that I wish I had not said, are played in loops 'til it's madness in my head._

A teary laugh escaped Jess. "How did you know?"

_You could be happy I hope you are._

_You've made me happier than I'd been by far._

"Yes. Indigo, that's true. You've made me very happy. Sitting with you while Liam and Chris worked. Driving away from Richard's. And you risked yourself to keep me safe."

She crossed her arms on the steering wheel and pressed her forehead against them, biting her lip against the sobs that threatened. She gulped air.

"I'm so sorry, Indigo. I was so mean. All you did was protect me, and I called you a monster."

Jess laid her cheek against the steering wheel, and wrapped her arms around it.

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

The Corolla shifted, making horrible grinding sounds, as if he were trying to transform and the engine snarled. Startled, Jess tried to climb out of the car, but the door, which had been open, slammed shut. Indigo went still and there was a burst of music from the radio.

" . . . forgive me . . ."

"Indigo?"

" . . . please forgive me, I know not what I do . . . "

She patted the dashboard hesitantly. "It's okay. Just don't freak out on me, 'kay? I'm sorry I cried."

". . . I wish . . ."

"What do you wish, Indigo?"

" . . . I want to hold you . . . 'til the fear in me subsides . . ."

Jess smiled. "Thanks. I'll stay with you, Indigo. If you'll have me—"

" . . . Yes . . ."

"Okay then. And, will you forgive me, for being a jerk? I'm not scared anymore. Not of you."

" . . . I forgive you . . . stay with me . . ."

Jess hugged the steering wheel again. "Of course I'll stay." She blinked back new tears. "I have nowhere else to go."

Indigo started rolling out into the light of the Autobot base.

" . . . we'll ask . . . we'll stay . . ."


	15. Chapter 15

Brawn was adamant. "She can't stay here."

He was quickly losing all the brownie points he'd gained with Jess.

Brawn, Chris and Blaze, and a few of the other Autobots had been discussing her future for the past twenty minutes or so. Optimus Prime had stayed silent through the exchange and that made Jess nervous. He was the leader, and the others would undoubtedly abide by his decision.

And yet, she didn't know what to say in her own defense. Here she was, human, tiny and soft; a liability. And on top of that, she was crippled. The Autobots had no reason to keep her around. On the other hand, these huge robots were becoming some of the best friends she'd ever had. She felt more comfortable with them than with her the kids in her high school.

"You can't send her back to her uncle," Chris argued.

"Obviously," Ratchet said.

Ironhide ran his cannons through an obvious display of firepower. "I'd like to give that human a piece of my mind."

"I think several of us would," Bumblebee said.

"So she should stay here," Blaze said. "She'll be safe here."

Several of the Autobots nodded, along with Chris, Sam, and Mikaela.

"Not likely," Brawn muttered.

"Enough discussion," Optimus Prime said firmly. "The final decision is mine. Jessica, Indigo, please come with me."

The huge 'Bot strode from the room. Reluctantly, Indigo, with Jess in the driver's seat, followed. The Autobot leader led them back to the Hall of Remembrance. Once in the cavernous room, Optimus fell silent for several minutes. Jess felt her heart sink to her toes. He wouldn't let them stay.

"Jessica, Indigo, you are both fine warriors in your own right. I owe the health and safety of several of my warriors to your bravery."

 _Here it comes_ , Jess thought miserably.

"However, I cannot let you stay here."

Indigo made a rude noise with his horn. Jess smacked the steering wheel.

"Don't make him mad," she whispered.

Optimus knelt next to the driver's window. "I am truly sorry," he said. "But our war is too dangerous. Jessica, the medic Hud tells me you may never walk again without aid. If you hadn't been involved with us, that would not have happened, and I'm sorry."

"I don't care," Jess said. "I asked to go along. I wanted to help rescue Indigo. My leg was a small price to pay. But if you throw us out—"

"I will not throw you," Optimus said.

Jess had to smile. He sounded appalled at the idea. "It's a figure of speech. What I mean is, if you don't let us stay, where will we go? I'm not old enough to legally be on my own, and I won't go back to Richard."

"I wouldn't want you to. I've heard what he did to you. But what about Liam? You've said he was unjustly incarcerated. You can help get him released, Jessica."

". . . yes . . ." Indigo said, bouncing slightly on his ties.

Jess patted the steering wheel fondly. Apparently Indigo remembered, and liked, Liam.

"I- I could try. I could testify or something. I don't know much about the legal system." She closed her eyes and leaned back against the seat. "I feel so helpless."

A smile touched the Autobot leader's metallic lips. "You are far from helpless, Jessica." Optimus turned his blue optics on the Corolla. "Indigo, I'd like to try something, with your permission."

The Autobot leader rose and walked to a plinth rising from the floor. His huge red and blue form blocked Jess' view, but he came back with something small and glittering held delicately between his fingers.

"I hold the last piece of the Allspark," Optimus said reverently. "This is the artifact that gave my people life, and the ability to transform. Indigo, I'd like to see if this shard can give you a true spark."

The room was silent as Indigo debated. Then the driver's side door opened.

" . . . yes . . . please . . ."

Jess hauled herself out of the car and stood balanced on one foot.

"Um, where should I stand?"

Optimus offered her his hand and she gladly sat. The Autobot leader carried her to the wall near Jazz's crypt and gently deposited her there.

"It won't hurt him, will it?" Jess asked softly.

"No," Optimus said with a smile.

He strode back to Indigo. "Are you ready."

" . . . yes . . ."

Jess held her breath.

Optimus Prime bent and touched the Allspark to Indigo's hood.

* * *

Sweet, warm power coursed through Indigo's metal frame. In its wake, awareness grew and focused. He could feel the surface beneath his wheels. He could scan and analyze the particles in the air, and he found sudden access to knowledge on the radio waves in the air.

A little zing went through him as the basic structure of his body changed. Joints and gears formed. New sensors broadened and sharpened his perception of his environment.

A new fluid filled his vitals where once gasoline and motor oil flowed.

A loud thudding suddenly caught Indigo's attention. He focused his audio receptors and realized the sound was coming from Jess. Alarm washed through him and he rolled forward.

"Jessie, you okay?" he asked.

His alarm grew as the thudding increased and Jess slid down the wall. Her green eyes were huge.

"You spoke," she whispered.

Indigo had to strain his audio receptors to hear her.

"I—" Indigo stuttered to a stop. "I spoke." He rolled a little closer to Jess. "Are you okay? Your skin changed color and you look—" he accessed his new resource of knowledge, "scared. Please don't be scared . . . of me."

"I'm not," Jess said. "Really, I’m not. But your voice . . . I wasn't expecting it."

Liquid began to leak from Jess's eyes, much to Indigo's dismay, and his olfactory sensors picked up a new smell. Salt water.

"Jessie . . ."

Gentle laughter reminded Indigo that Optimus was still in the room. "Why don't you try transforming?"

"Can I? I'm not sure how."

"It only takes a thought," the Autobot leader said. "Just relax. You already know what to do."

Indigo momentarily disengaged his optical sensors, and let the tension drain from him.

 _Transform_ , he thought.

Indigo felt the gears in his body start turning. Joints unfolded, limbs appeared, a head. He blinked his optics on and found himself staring down at Jess. A warm hand touched his shoulder and he turned. Optimus was smiling at him. Indigo smiled back.

* * *

Jess couldn't seem to stop the tears running down her cheeks. Indigo was beautiful. What had been the front doors of the car, now stuck out from his back, similar to Bumblebee's. Jess thought they looked like wings.

Indigo's bipedal form was sleek like Jazz's, but more slender than the other Autobot’s. He was head and shoulders shorter than Optimus Prime.

She thought she liked his voice most of all, though. It was a light tenor, with a slight Scottish burr, like Liam's.

Using the wall, she slithered her way back to a standing position. She hopped forward, wanting to go to Indigo and tell him how wonderful he looked.

Suddenly, Indigo pitched forward, a groan of pain escaping him. Optimus caught him.

"Indigo!" Jess cried.

"What's wrong?" Optimus asked.

A shudder ran through Indigo's frame and he pressed a hand to his chestplate. He groaned again, and fell to his knees. The impact made the ground rock, and Jess fell to her rear.

"Indigo!"

"It's okay," Indigo gasped. "Just a . . . a hiccup."

"You're sure?" Optimus asked.

Indigo pulled his closed hand away from his chestplate. "I'm sure."

He opened his fingers, and there, hovering above his palm, was a silvery spark.

Optimus held out his hand, and Indigo gave him the spark.

"Jazz," Optimus whispered.


	16. Chapter 16

The next couple of days were a whirlwind of events. Optimus reunited Jazz's spark with his body, with the help of the Allspark, and everyone celebrated the silver warrior's return from the dead. The Autobots kept Indigo busy, telling and retelling the story of how he'd come to have Jazz's spark with him. Jazz filled in what parts he could of the story.

Ratchet kept up a barrage of tests to make sure that both Indigo and Jazz were functioning properly. Ironhide made sure Indigo knew how to use his weapons systems effectively, while the other Autobots took turns teaching Indigo other skills.

Jess stayed in the medical wing with Hud doing physical therapy on her leg, and letting Ratchet examine the break and experiment with a few treatments he thought would help the bone and muscles heal.

Several of the GI's had pooled money and hired an attorney to help Jess and Liam. Jess refused their offer at first, knowing she’d never be able to repay the kindness done to her already, but after urging from Captain Lennox and Hud, she gave in. Jazz insisted in taking her, along with Hud, to the attorney’s office while Indigo was busy with ‘Autobot boot camp’.

Within a couple of days of meeting with Jess and Liam, and checking out Richard, the attorney had Liam released from jail and the proceedings started to get Jess moved into his custody.

On the way back to the Autobot base from the latest meeting with the attorney, Jess broke down and cried.

“Watch the leather,” Jazz teased. “You should be jumpin’ for joy, girl. What's with the waterworks?”

“I’m happy,” Jess said through her tears.

For a moment, she was too overcome to say more. Hud reached over and patted her shoulder.

She _was_ happy. Happier than she’d been since her parents had died. But the happiness was tempered with the knowledge that soon she wouldn’t be seeing some of her new friends that often. She’d grown used to having the huge Autobots around, and talking with Sam, Mikaela, and the military personnel. Chris and Blaze would still be close, and that was of some comfort, and Optimus had said she was welcome to visit, but it wasn’t going to be the same.

“I’m going to miss you guys,” she said, when she was calmer.

“Hey, it’s not like you're never going to see us again,” Jazz said. “And you'll have Indigo to keep you out of trouble.”

“Will I?” Jess asked softly. That was her other great fear. That Indigo would be made to stay with the Autobots now that he was capable of transforming.

Jazz seemed to sense her fear. “Of course. Bumblebee stays with Sam and Mikaela so I don’t see why you and Indigo would be separated. We’re not cruel, you know.”

Jess flushed and patted the leather seat. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry I doubted you guys.”

Hud grinned at her from the driver’s seat. “We’ll be back in a few minutes, and you can break the good news to Indigo. Once you get that call from Liam, you can go home.”

That though depressed Jess as much as it made her happy. Liam was free. She’d be moving in with him as her guardian as she’d wished since being taken in by Richard. But she’d be leaving the Autobot base. She tried to sound cheerful as she responded.

“It will be great to see Uncle Liam again. I bet he’ll be freaked out to learn that Indigo’s alive. He worked for a few weeks straight to get him back into repair.” She managed a smile at the thought of Liam’s startled face the first time Indigo talked to him on their return. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Her demeanor lightened, and they three friends chatted until they reached the base. The main room was empty when Jazz rolled in. His passengers disembarked and he shifted to his bipedal form.

“Geez, where’d everyone go? There can’t have been another attack or Optimus would’ve called me in to help.” He looked around. “Guess I’ll go check in back. Hud, maybe you’d better take Jess to the infirmary. She’s looking a little pale.”

The Autobot second-in-command strode back into the bowels of the base.

Jess cupped her hands around her cheeks. “I thought I was doing pretty good. My leg hardly hurt at all today.”

Hud chuckled and took her arm, helping her back to the infirmary. “I think all the Autobots worry a bit too much about us ‘fragile’ humans. We’re so tiny and weak compared to them. Any little fluctuation of temperature or skin color sends Ratchet into fits.” The medic laughed. “He’s getting better, but the other Autobots have even less knowledge about how the human body works. We’ll have you sit down and eat a little and you’ll be right at rain.”

Jess squeezed Hud’s hand. “You’re great. Everyone is. I feel very lucky to have met all of you.”

The medic blushed. “Well, Jessie, I think a few of us have taken a shine to you as well.”

They reached the door to the infirmary and Hud was reaching out to open it, when the Autobot-sized partition was pulled open, revealing the infirmary full of Autobots and humans.

“Surprise!”

The combined voices of the military personnel, friends, and Autobots nearly deafened Jess. She managed to smile as she winced. Jazz winked at her from his place at Optimus’s side.

_That little sneak_ , she thought. _He knew what was going on_ _!_

“Thanks, guys,” she said when the roar died down. “What’s the occasion?”

Her human friends surrounded her. Chris took her hand, his warm fingers twining with hers. Jess blushed.

“We heard you get to go home soon,” Sam said. “We wanted to have a little sendoff party.”

Mikaela smiled. “Sam and I have to head home today, too. We didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye.” She hugged Jess, then handed her a small box. “It’s not much, but Sam, Bumblebee and I thought it up. ‘Bee made it.”

Jess smiled and waved at the yellow Autobot. Bumblebee waved back shyly. Jess opened the box. Inside was a ring. A slim silvery band stamped with the Autobot shield.

“Wow,” she said, slipping the ring onto her ring finger. It was a bit too big. She put it on her middle finger instead. Perfect fit. She hugged Mikaela and Sam. “It’s great. Thanks. Thank you, Bumblebee!” 

“Welcome,” Bumblebee said.

“I think there’s someone back there who wants to see you,” Chris said. 

He led her toward the group of people. She was patted and congratulated by the various base personnel. She grinned and thanked them as she limped along behind Chris.

Jess squeezed Chris’s hand. “Who is it?”

“You’ll see,” Chris said with a smile.

The group parted, revealing Liam.

Jess’s breath caught in her throat.

Liam smiled and spread his arms. “Hey, Jessie Baby.” His Scottish burr was thick, betraying the depth of his emotion at seeing her again.

Jess lurched away from Chris, her vision narrowed down to that familiar smile. Liam met her halfway and swung her up into his arms.

“Welcome home,” he whispered.


End file.
